


Totally an adult

by Alineko



Series: The young and (a little bit) broken [2]
Category: Marvel 3490, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, earth 3490 - Fandom
Genre: AU female Tony Stark, Age Difference, Almost Uncle Phil Coulson, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers and Tony Stark Frienship, BAMF Tony Stark, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Canon Divergence - Iron Man 3, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Clint Barton & Tony Stark Friendship, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Consensual Underage Sex, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Fem!Tony Stark - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Iron Man 3, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Little bit of angst, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, Stony - Freeform, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Uncle Nick Fury, Underage Drinking, Young!Tony Stark, baby brother Harley Kenner, little bit of OOC, minor underage, stony fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-08-08 07:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16424603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alineko/pseuds/Alineko
Summary: Every time the young, genius and beautiful Natasha Stark thinks her life is being great... karma comes to bite her assThis is one of those timesor Iron Man 3 with a little female twist





	1. The good old days

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [And I Will Be Your Man](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2281164) by [ann2who](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ann2who/pseuds/ann2who). 



> So I'm back with "Not a kid"'s sequel, also the timeline is foggy, don't look too much into it :v  
> This Iron Man 3 story happens two years after the New York Battle. you can go read the first part of the series or you can read it as a stand-alone. The only important thing to know is that Natasha Stark was 20 when The Avengers which was before her birthday and here is 23.
> 
> As a side note I want to add that I had to actually write part by part the Iron Man 3 movie 'cause I couldn't find a decent script like in the Avengers' one, so if the writing is sometimes crappy, is probably because of that or because I suck at descriptions... most likely the second :v either way, enjoy! :D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha Antonia Stark was 12 when Obadiah allowed her to start going to parties, she was the Stark heir so she couldn't be hidden forever. At her 13th birthday she drank alcohol for the first time, nobody was seeing her, she was curious and an older boy named Ty managed to steal some, so why not? she blushed when the other kid praised her for trying it.
> 
> After Ty Stone taught her how to properly enjoy a party, Tasha Stark only became wilder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Listen up! Heres the story about a little guy that lives in a blue world... :v

 2007 New Year’s Eve, Bern, Switzerland - Natasha Stark 16 years old

 

“Oh my god! Tasha Stark?!” the voices around her turn louder in the attempt of reaching her 

“Hey!” she greets to whoever calls at her

“Your speech was great, girl!” a man tries to come close to her and Happy stands between him and his young boss

“I gave a speech? How was it?” her words are slurred by all the alcohol she had in the last three hours 

“Edifying” Happy says

“Unintelligible” the woman in her arms replies at the same time, laughing 

“Really?” she giggles quite drunk “Awesome! that’s my favorite kind, it’s a winning combo!” she sways a little 

“Is that so? Where are we going, Ms. Stark? Where are you taking me?” the woman aks amused by the genius' mischievous behavior  

“Uh... to town, on each other, probably back in your room, because I also want to see your research" she manages to complete the sentence without eating any words   

“Okay, you can see my research, my town though...”

“Ms. Stark!” an older man calls to her and give his hand “Ho Yinsen” Tasha mutters something about never meeting a Ho before under her breath “I would like to introduce you to our guest, Dr. Wu”

“Ms. Stark” he greets her in Mandarin

“Oh! You are a heart doctor! So good ‘cause she’s going to need a cardiologist after I...” she makes an obnoxious sound with a honk and leaves with her girl by the arm

“Perhaps another time?” the man named Yinsen tries to call her but to no avail, the teenager is too drunk to recognize any good opportunities with fellow scientists 

The thing is... she doesn't care, at all, 'cause right now she's getting out of the party with a beautiful woman by her side and everything is great, no one notices that she is not legal yet, nobody even cares, to be precise; she just has to use the same excuse she has been giving to everyone who asks since the year before: ‘ _Oh me? I’m totally on age, in fact, I turned 22 last month. My face? What can I say, I’m baby-faced like this, someday I’ll discover the reason behind my looks and I’ll have billions selling the fountain of youth_ ’.  
Lying in parties like this is easy since people want either her technology, money, body or the three of them. Her word, a fake license, and a couple of dollars is all she needs to get all the alcohol she wants plus all the company she desires, with the added bonus that when she gets wasted, her nightmares stop. 

“Ms. Stark!” an older and disheveled man calls to her, but she doesn’t take notice until the guy appears right in front of her and her date “Oh wow! Hey, Tasha!” he smiles at both women prompting Tasha to raise an eyebrow. Does she know him? She can’t recall, but of course, with all the booze she had it’s a surprise she can recognize her driver, bodyguard and friend, Happy “Aldrich Killian” the man slightly stutters “I’m a big fan of your work”

“My work?” the girl in her arm asks playfully

“Yeah, well, who isn’t?" Tasha answers "Hey, sweetheart, he means me” she tells her date and bites her earlobe slightly 

“Well, of course, Stark's work is unparallel, but, Ms. Hansen my organization’s been tracking your research since year two of MIT” he says while Tash pulls Maya to the elevator with her

“Yeah, yeah, we are full” the guy, Aldrich, steps on it by dodging Happy who is taking his role of bodyguard very seriously “Oh hey, he made it, he made the cut” Stark says mildly amuse, Happy doesn’t look charmed by that though

“What floor are you going to pal?” he asks the newcomer

“Well, now, that is an appropriate question, the ground floor, actually, of a proposal I’m putting together myself. It’s a privately funded think tank called Advance Idea Mechanics” he explains while offering two cards to the scientists

“She’ll take both” Tash says cooly, she can’t have anything handed to her since Howard messed up with her trust issues by torturing her when she was three, still, no one can know about that “One to throw away and one to not call” she adds to diverge the attention from her quirks, Maya save both cards “Let me guess, AIM for short?” she says as she sees his shirt with the letters on it 

“Aww you got it” The man beams at her

The elevator stops and the people start to go down, all the other women get out and Tasha stays a little behind to talk to the awkward guy

“Look, I’m titillated by the notion of working with you, I’ll ditch these clowns and I’ll see you up on the roof in five minutes” she slurs and bats her eyelashes, the man blushes a deep shade of red at the flirting

“Y-yeah?” he asks dreamingly 

“Yeah, sure, just gonna try and get my beak wet real quick, you know what I mean” she winks stepping outside

“I’ll see you up there then!” the man yells but she doesn’t hear him, she has a hotter date after all

 ~

“Oh god! I thought that was just a theory” she exclaims a few minutes later in Maya's room, a little soberer up

“Yeah it was” Hansen sounds excited “If I’m right, we can access the area of the brain that governs repair and chemically recode it” Tasha mutters a wow

“That’s incredible, it's amazing! Essentially you’re hacking into the genetic..."

“Operating system” they finish together

“Of a living thing” Maya says and proceeds to scowl Happy for touching her plant

“Let’s go to the bedroom, Happy!” the man straightens at his teenage boss “Leave her ficus alone”

“I’m calling it EXTREMIS” Maya tells Tasha as they leave the living room to a more intimate place “It’s for human application, dendritic revitalization, disease prevention, even limb regrowth” she explains, Tasha looks at her in awe

“You’re the most gifted woman I’ve ever met” she blurts without thinking

“Wow...” Maya looks at her in disbelief, the fame Natasha Stark has of being a playgirl is as well known as her genius, though nobody knows her real age, everyone agrees that she has shared a bed with an impressive amount of both men and women by how young she looks. Yet, half of those rumors are actually fake since she became pickier with her room partners after what happened with Tiberius Stone

“In Switzerland” Tash corrects after she remembers Pepper “This week” she adds for dramatism 

“Hmmm that’s better” Maya looks at her with fondness and takes Tash’s sunglasses off her “You are seeing things” she laughs. Without them, Stark looks younger, her eyes shine with deep interest, both mentally and physically, and the air between them takes another turn as both of the girls bend to kiss. Happy closes the door of the suit, or at least try before something behind him explodes

“This is what I talked about, the glitch” Maya sighs

“Have you checked the telomerase algorithm?” Natasha says before she is tackled by her ‘bodyguard’

“Stay down boss!” he says, she just stays still and blinks several times

“We are good, and you’re.... you’re... you’re right on top of me, get off, I made it, I’m fine” Happy stands up and straights his hair and suit, he starts to ask explanations to Maya when the people outside starts yelling “Hey! Happy New Year” Tasha exclaims, prompting the other two to do the same “Alright, I’ll see you in the morning, good night” she shakes her bodyguard’s hand and shushes him outside the room "Now... Where were we?"

~ 

The people at the party are celebrating while a lonely guy named Aldrich Killian freezes in the roof, waiting for a spoiled genius that is never going to arrive at the meeting or even had the intention to do so  

~ 

The next morning, Tasha writes some formulas down in a card as a suggestion to the glitch, she kisses it and lefts it with a note ‘ _You know who I am_ ’ before leaving the room, not caring to at least say goodbye

She is young, spoiled and selfish, and she doesn't mind breaking a few hearts just to get what she wants. Who would've thought that the demons she created that night would come back to hunt her? surely she didn't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos, comments, suggestions are well received :D


	2. Avengers Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the Avengers Tower, to your right you can see birdbrain making a prank war, to your left you can see the hulk making science and if you look into de kitchen or the workshop, you can see two idiots pining for each other 
> 
> Nat Romanov is utterly unimpressed

2014 Avenger’s Tower, New York- Natasha Stark 23 years old

 

Natasha groans again

“Forty-seven, Miss may I ask please just a few hours to calibrate...”

“Nope” she exclaims in pain as she injects herself “Forty-eight” she shakes her arm “Micro-repeater implanting sequence complete”

“As you wish Miss, I’ve also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore” JARVIS informs her

“What’s with the sass?” Tasha chuckles “Of course I will” she sniffs “All right, let’s do this” she looks up at one of her robots “DUM-E” she calls with a sweet voice “Hi DUM-E, you know how you get that cap on your head? You earn it” she scowls as she goes to her baby swiping robot “Hey! What are you doing out of the corner? You know what you did. Also, there's blood on my mat, handle it”

“Miss, may I remind you that you have been awake for 72 hours?” Tasha woosh at the camera but promptly ignores her AI

“Focus up ladies” she turns to her dear armors “Good evening and welcome to the birthing suite, I am pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, bad-ass baby brother” she turns to Butterfingers that’s recording everything “Start tight and then go wide, stamp date and time” she whispers without noticing the newcomer watching her behind the reinforcement glass “MARK XLII. Autonomus prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence” everybody prepares itselves as she stands in the center, the man looking at her tenses in expectation “JARVIS... drop my needle if you please” she signals and starts a little dancing as christmas-like music sounds

Her hips bounce from one side to another following her arms she closes her eyes in an expression of pure bliss and pleasure, then she opens them and tosses her left arm up front. Nothing happens. She scowls and does it again, again everything stays still

She mutters under her breath and hits lightly her arm a few times before doing the same movement, this time a whirring is heard and one of the gauntles fly to her attaching itself to her arm and extending, along with a part of the armor that acomodates in her shoulder. She turns to another table and tosses her right arm in that direction, the other gauntlet flies to her as well, she laughs delighted ordering her electronic butler to send all the other parts to her. She lifts her leg to welcome one of them, she looks smug until the helmet crashes with a glass protecting a suit, the others fly in every direction. Soon she is getting ambush by her own invention as it attaches itself to her, the one in the back hurts a bit and makes her go down, but before she falls face first she stabilizes her body with the repulsors, she tells JARVIS to cool it down a little bit, and after the chest plate is in place the only thing left is the face plate. She coos at her metal piece and habor to take it, she lands with a bad-ass pose, inside the helmet comes to life and the interface is shown

“I’m the best” she smugly says before an armor piece ricochets to her back, knocking her down and dislodging her new suit. She groans

“As always Miss, a great pleasure watching you work” the AI deadpans

“You know J? I should probably sell you to MIT for all the sass” she replies as she stands up. The door of her workshop opens and a blond, muscular guy enters

“You can’t blame him for it, he takes on you after all” he grins patting DUM-E on its arm, Tasha beams at him

“Spangles! When did you return?”

“I just did” he says teasing her already disheveled hair “Nat is resting in the living room with Clint, I decided to check on you since JARVIS told me you have been up since 72 hours?”

“Indeed, Captain”

“Traitor” Tasha mutters

“Common Tash, let’s go up stairs, eat something and then sleep” the genius pouts

“Only if you make Bruce do the same, it’s not fair he gets to stay in his science outbreak and I have to rest, I’m younger than him! I have more energy!” she childishly whines, making Steve smile fondly. In the two years he has spent in the Avengers Tower he has learned how petty ( ~~and adorable~~ ) their resident genius can be

“Dr. Banner left his lab as to follow basic human preservation requierments 10 hours ago” JARVIS informs them, Steve archs an eyebrow and Tasha groans

“Fine! I’ll be a basic human for now, but only for you Winghead” Steve heart flutters at the endearment his best friend gave him “’sides, I need coffee”

~ 

The ‘old’ Stark Tower got trashed in the New York invasion, so Natasha Stark, being both the genius and billionaire she was, remodeled the Tower to add new floors for the new occupants: the Avengers; her name in the front of the building got change (thanks Chitauri soldiers) leaving only the A, hence the name: the Avenger’s Tower. Every hero had their own floor full with suits and kitchens, plus there was a common room, two labs, a full packed gym, a playroom, a range room and her workshop, where Tasha could be found when she wasn’t at the common floor with the other guys. It had taken a full 5 months but all the residentes were quite happy and comfortable with ther new home

~

“Welcome back to the land of the living” Clint greets her from his place on the couch, Nat and Bruce are in the kitchen counter eating, she slides a plate full of food to the genius  

“Eat” is all she says, Tasha rolls her eyes but makes a grateful sound “So... who you want to sleep tonight with котенок?” Tasha raises an eyebrow in a silent question “Don’t even try to pretend, you scared the hell out of us last time with your screams, and I know for a fact there’s a reason you are refusing to close your eyes for more than 10 minutes, so who is gonna be? Me or Clint? I would add Bruce but we know how moody he gets if he don’t rest well...” Banner’s grateful for her not mentioning how posible is to hulk-up if he cuddles with Tash in a bad night “And I don’t trust you at all to sleep with Rogers” the soldier slightly blushes

“Hey!” Tasha pouts “I wouldn’t do anything to compromise the virtue of a National Icon” Steve groans at that, the fact that he is used to be trated like a hero and all, doesn’t mean he likes it, of course, Tash is only joking, he can’t help but blush at the connotation of the conversation though. Clint snorts

“Yeah right, I thought you stopped all the playgirl stuff, yet there's you doing the walk of shame three weeks ago still all over the news” she almost chockes with her food, the other residents look at her amused but Steve can’t stop feeling an ugly weight in his mind, he still smiles and raises an eyebrow like the others, what would the public ( ~~Tasha~~ ) think if they knew Captain America was jealous?

“I’m most definitely not back to screwing around” she coffs a few times more “But it’s not my fault my bed gets cold at night okay? If I could find someone nice to settle down with, trust me, I would” she briefly glances at Steve, but he doesn’t take any notice as he continues to torture himself with images of Tasha with another person cuddling or hugging or kissing or....his mussing are interrupted by Nat’s voice

“You never answered my question котенок” she says while putting her dish in the sink and starts cleaning it

“Yeah, yeah fine, I’ll stay with you tonight beautiful widow, I don’t want to wake up covered in green woo like the last time” she promptly glares at Clint who just dies laughing

“So what your dreams are about?” she looks at Bruce apollogetically, she doesn’t like spilling the contents of her subconcious, not sober at least, especially when most of her nightmares diverges to Howard at some point. And she’s definetely not telling her new family about the extent of dear old dad abuse, bad enough was that Rhodney knew, she was always careful with that information, hell not even Aunt Peggy, Aunt Angie nor the Hollowing uncles knew about it, that was how good the Stark family was at hiding their dirt. She sends a pointed ‘ _I don’t want to talk about it_ ’ look to her fellow scientist and he drops it “Fair enough. When I come back though, I’ll come up with something to help you sleep better ‘kay? Your sleeping times are not healthy”

“You are leaving again?” she chooses to ignore the older man's reprimind. All and all it wasn’t weird for the doctor to travel to strange places, Bruce left for good 3 months at least twice before, she still pouts, but he just tosses her hair affectionately

“I’ll be in India this time, there’s a major component of my research there, and if I can be of help well...” Tasha nods but keeps the pout “I’ll be back in a few months” Bruce offers

“Would you be in time for our science orgy?” she looks hopeful and Bruce chuckles

“Of course, I wouldn’’t miss it for anything” the tiny genius beams at him again

“What is this I hear about an orgy? If I weren’t happily married I’ll totally participate” Clint thinks about it for a second and adds “I think I can ask Laura though” Tasha elbows him laughing

“I’m talking about the Stark expo you heathen” Steve would never ever admitted it, but he's secretly relieved “Is in 6 months, and it’s important cause I managed to get a hold of two other quite important scientist” her eyes twinkles

“Pym and Reed?” Tasha nods “You invited them?” even Bruce sounds excited, they had never met the other two, so it's a whole new experience

“And they accepted, so jolly green, make sure you are back by then” Banner smiles

“All the more reasons to hurry up my investigation then” 

Steve looks at both geniuses talking their mouths off about proyects, experiments, and overall science and can’t stop the fond smile forming on his lips, Nat's looking the same and even if Clint groans about the most boring orgy ever, the smile he has on his face said how pleased he is to be back in the Avengers Tower, Steve as well is glad to be back home, it's going to be a good day.

~ 

After Nat practically drags Tasha to take a nap with her, Bruce makes dinner, everything is peaceful with a bit of banter and teasing between the genius and Clint, it's nice. Then, JARVIS talks to them

“Miss, a new video is streaming” Tasha tenses and is like all her easy-going self is gone in an instant, she is full in bussiness mood when she goes in front of the TV and coolly says

“Show me”

In the TV pictures of people dying and screaming are shown, then a older man appears, he has his hair tied in a man bun and is using glasses, his voice is deep and cold when he speaks

“Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher...” her scowl deepens, she can feel her family joining her in the living room “America. Ready for another lesson? In 1864, in Sand Creek, Colorado the US military wited until the friendly Cheyenne braves had all gone hunting, waited to attack and slaughter the families left behind and claim their land. 39 hours ago, the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked... I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children of course, the soldiers were out on manoevres, the braves were away, President Ellis. You continue to resist my attemps to educate you, sir, and now you’ve missed me again” another scene with men yelling while guns fire them “You know who I am, but you don’t know where I am. And you’ll never see me coming” The transmition ends and Tasha lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, almost inmidiately after the video, the news begins

“Who’s that?” Clint asks, they were out for a mission for the last few months so is not a surprise they aren’t updated

“A terrorist, he calls himself ‘The Mandarin’” Tasha answers before taking the call she knew it was comming right after “Hey platypus, the love of my life”

“Toni” she scrunches her nose, he is the one of the only three people that still calls her that, especially since he knows she doesn’t like it that much “I’m assuming you saw the news”

“I’m seeing them right now honey” she tells him watching as the newly renamed Iron Patriot stands next to the President “I liked war machine by the way, oh Colonel my Colonel did you had to sell them the armor? I mean couldn’t you at least pick another colors?” she acts like she is fainting making her companions to roll their eyes

“Yeah yeah you can yell at me later, hey I heard you have some bussiness in Malibu right?”

“Actually, how did you know that? You spied me? Happy on my trail again?”

“Pepper told me you had to check some prototypes of your suits”

“More like I have to move them to New York, at least the ones left”

“Yeah? How many of them are we talking about?”

“Iron patriot wants to meet his brothers and sisters? Thats cute”

“Lets see each other, shall we? When you are back”

“Of couse sweetheart, I leave tomorrow morning, see ya my beautiful bride” she hangs up right there so she can keep having the last word, it’s a game they have since MIT, Nat looks at her with an amused smile

“Bride?” Tasha smirks

“Of course, Rhodey would make a pretty bride, my bride” she giggles making Steve's heart melt just a little

“Didn’t know you were leaving” he says trying to keep the bite and dissapointment within him, he doesn’t make it though, seeing as the girl flinchs slightly

“Sorry, I didn’t expect you guys to return so quickly, I was actually planing the trip to get my oder armors and some new parts from a month now, and I already finished MARK XLII so it’s the perfect time...” Steve nods, then, the perfect idea occurs to him

“Mind if I tag along?” Tasha almost chockes again

“What? Why? No offense Cap, but I don’t really need backup in this” Steve shares a glance with Nat

“It’s not backup, it’s babysitting” he teases, the genius just gaps

“It’s not a bad idea, he can make sure you keep your sleep and eat scheadules” Bruce innocently adds

“Please, it’s not like I’m five” the reply comes in automatic 

“Well you sure act like one when it comes to self-preservation” Clint smirks

“I can assure you.... I was better at taking care of myself when I was five” she deadpans again without thinking 

“Well that settles it, Steve is going to go with Stark so he can take care of any difficulty she might came across with” Tasha just. Gapes. At. Them. While Steve looks oh so smug about it.

The genius can’t decide if it’s the best or the worst day of her life


	3. Iron Bros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Steve, before the Avengers, before even Iron Man or Pepper... Natasha Stark had Rhodey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: this chapter has a description of a panic attack, so mind your own triggers.  
> for this I try to use my own experiences as the base, so keep in mind that the symptoms can vary from person to person   
> if you are feeling on edge, the attack starts in the phrase "are you okay" and ends on "check the heart"

When she tells him, Rhodey just about dies with laughter, literally or at least that what it looks like because he can’t. Just. Stop. Laughing

“Ugh shut up Rhodes” Tasha whines

“I can’t... I can’t believe it! Rogers, Fucking Captain America is here to... babysit you?” she sends him a look that has him wheezing again, she groans

“Yeah yeah, hilarious” she rolls her eyes “I thought you brought me here to talk about bussiness? Common, tell me about my baby, is he okay? Are you treating him right Rhodes? Why in hell would you let them change his name?”

Rhodey has to take a moment to compose himself, taking deep breaths and suppressing the giggles that come every time he looks at her, Tasha remains unamused

“Yeah, okay, about that, it tested well with focus groups all right? People like that name” she raises an eyebrow

“I am Iron Patriot” she says in a gruff voice “common, it sucks”

“Listen, War machine was a little too aggressive, all right? This sends a better message to the community” Tasha sighs

“I’m so going to make spangles sue you for stealing his colors I swear” she mutters under her breath, Rhodey has to make the inhuman effort of not laughing again

“Yes, I can see how well you are getting along with him” is Rhodey's turn to appear skeptical, prompting Tasha to send him a look “Hey I’m just saying what I, and everybody else for that matter, see, and you two are disgustingly sweet and domestic together”

“Yeah yeah, tell me something new alright? birdbrain says that every week” she takes a sip of her beer

“So what are you waiting for? Ask him on a date, show him how the new century girls take the initiative” he jabs

“I can’t do that, his 40’s mind would shortcut” she makes a booming movement with her hands to make her point and Rhodey just  _ _looks__  at her “Okay fine, his mind won’t do that, but common Rhodey! be serious for a second okay? Steve Rogers interested in me? Like that? The man and the others barely see me as a little sister, it's almost a miracle that they take me seriously and that's not even mentioning they treat me like a child”

“And why ever that might be?” he drops thick sarcasm on that single phrase and Tasha does what any adult would... she sticks her tongue out and shoves him slightly

“I’m so not going to talk about my useless crush on Steve Rogers and non-existent love life to you, I still remember what happened five years ago, don't think I've forgotten” and with that Rhodey made a surrender motion that has her glaring at him for a moment before drinking the rest of her beer “Why don’t you better tell me what’s really going on? With the mandarin?” her friend moves his head negatively “Platypus I’m worried for you, seriously, can we talk about this guy?” she takes his hand and idly plays with his fingers, a tic she developed since MIT

“Sorry Tash, it’s classified information” she looks at him with kicked puppy eyes, the ones she just knows even Rhodey can’t refuse to “Okay there have been nine bombings, but the public only knows about three... But here’s the thing, nobody can ID a device, there are no bomb casings... or anything else, really”

“You know I can help” she exclaims as quietly as possibly “Just ask, I got a ton of new tech, I got a prehensile suit, I...I got a bomb disposal, it even catches explosions mid-air”

“Yeah? And when was the last time you got a good night’s sleep? Huh? When you got one of those” Tasha tches and pouts

“Einstein slept three hours a year, look what he did”

“Yeah right, you know that’s biologically impossible Stark, the human body can’t be without sleep for more than 10 days, and last time I checked, you were still a human and not a cyborg” she rolls her eyes once again “We are concerned about you Tash, I’m concerned about you, maybe it’s a good idea Rogers came with you after all you know?” she looks at him with deep betray in her eyes

“You are going to be like that? You know well the reason why I-”

“Tash, Tash, look I’m not trying to be a dic-... dictator...” he composes after seeing kids coming to their table, the girl looks at her smiling

“You are Natasha Stark right? Iron Man’s boss?” Tasha smiles at the little girl, sure, for the public, Iron Man is her bodyguard, the only ones who know about her secret are her closest three friends, the Avengers and just every SHIELD employer

“Sure I am, what can I do to you?”

“Would you mind signing my drawing on his behalf?” she asks and shows her a drawing of the Iron Man armor flying in the sky

“Yeah sure, if Richard here, doesn’t mind.... are you fine with this Dick?” she makes a point of seeing Rhodey dead in the eye, he just smiles awkwardly and agrees, he just knows in how much trouble he is in with the genius “What’s your name princess?”

“Erin” the girl looks excited, Rhodey gets close to her and whispers

“Listen, the Pentagon is scared, after New York, aliens... Come on.” just hearing the words sends a shiver down her spine, she can feel her palms starting to sweat and little tremors all over her body, which is ridiculous by the way, she survived kidnapping, a shrapnel, poisoning, betrayal, she is not going to get nervous just because Rhodey mentions some aliens that she destroyed. Except that she does “They need to look strong, stopping the Mandarin is a priority, but it’s not...”

“It’s not superhero business” she ends finishing her autograph

“No, it’s not, quite frankly, It’s American business”

“Yeah, I get it! That’s why I said I got it....” she hasn’t realized she has been grasping the crayon so hard that the moment she finished her signature, it breaks, Tasha sighs tiredly, suddenly feeling like the air inside the bar it’s not enough, she opens her hands and close them once more, the trembling doesn't stop

“Are you okay?” Rhodey voice sounds so far away

“Are you okay Ms. Stark?” the girl asks, but it also sounds muffled

“I... I broke the crayon” she whispers, feeling as the tremors become stronger, a vague sense of nausea fills her, making her feel light-headed. she has the sensation that her body paralyzes for a second, at the next she has the intense instinct to run away

“Take it easy Tash” suddenly the world is spinning and all the sounds seem to grow louder, she inhales sharply as the voice of the kid next to Erin whispers to her

“Do you know how did Iron Man got out of the wormhole?” that makes it, that sentence, no, that word makes her snap, she gasps and gets up, she is pale as a paper sheet, with her last breath she whispers

“Sorry, not feeling quite well kids, I’ll... give Iron Man your regards” and she stomps to the alley exit, pushing the other customers, she just want to get out, because there’s not enough air, she’s back at the wormhole, back at the space and it’s cold, she is surrounded by monsters and she can’t breath and she can’t just stop shaking. When she gets to the back alley, she stammers to the Iron Man suit parked in the shadows, she can’t get there faster, and she is going to choke, it doesn’t matter that she’s on earth, the air is not enough and she can’t breath and she is going to die and....

The suit opens mechanically for her and she stumbles inside it, JARVIS showing her the interface, she pants, and gasps as the armor closes in her, she falls to her robot knees as she tries to breathe again

“C-check the heart, check the.. is it the heart? Is it the brain?” she urges her AI to scan her vital signs 

“No sign of cardiac anomaly or unusual brain activity” JARVIS informs her

“Okay, so I was poisoned?”

“My diagnosis is that you’ve experienced a severe anxiety attack” the answer leaves her even breathless if possible, she looks disbelieving her health graphics

“Me? but... that can't be... it's been... it's.... it can't be” she can hear a metallic clinking

“Come on Tash, you are worrying me, princess, open up”

“I’m fine, I’m just.... sorry, I gotta split, I’ll call you platypus” Rhodey takes a step back as Tasha gets up and flies away, she needs time to process the fact that maybe she is not quite over the New York Battle as she originally thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you suffer anxiety and/or depression and/or panic attacks like me, I want you to know that you are not alone, and it's okay, find help, don't push your own limits unless you want to and breath deeply when you feel like that. But mostly, my recommendation is to talk to a specialist (psychologist or psychiatrist) who can help you get better at handle it.  
> If you know a person that suffers from this, listen to them, ask them how can you help when they have an attack (cause every person deals with them differently) and please, I beg you, be kind to them, is quite hard enough to suffer through this on your own, that you really don't need someone making you feel less or worse.
> 
> I love you all guys, please stay safe and have a nice day/night


	4. #Team_Stark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since the beginning, Pepper and Happy had had a soft spot for the young genius.... that also means that both of them love to tease her relentlessly

Tasha is in the middle of tinkering with MARK XLII when Happy calls, right after she came back from her meeting with Rhodey she locked herself in the workshop, Steve was a bit concerned but he allowed her when she just looked at him with her trademark puppy eyes, which wouldn’t have been that useful if not cause of the twinge of despair behind them; the soldier allowed her to go in lock-down mode as soon as she promised to be back for dinner, and it was a serious promise, he even threatened her to use his override codes if necessary and she agreed. Tasha has been in there for 3 hours when Happy video-chats her

“Hello?” he calls

“Is this Forehead of security?” she answers mocking the way Happy puts the Starkpad at his eye's level

“What do you want? I’ve got a real job here, I’ve actually got something going on here”

“What? Hap you called me” she laughs

“I did?” her ex-security guard seems confused

“Yeah, looks like we are going to have to teach you how to use your pad again” she giggles and walks to the other side of the workshop “So what are you doing really? Are you still harassing interns? Did the employers complaint raised again?”

“How do you even know that? No, you know what? Let me tell you something, Do you know what happened when you tell people that you are a bodyguard of the same person Iron Man bodyguards? They laugh in my face” Tasha chuckles “I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity”

“No one even thought you might be Iron Man? That’s cold”

“Come on Boss, seriously?” Tasha smirks

“Yeah, you have a point”

“See that’s cold, but now I got a real job, I’m watching Pepper” Happy inwardly smiles 

“Yeah I get that, you two are cute together” Tasha scrunches her nose sweetly “We are already talking so fill me in, what’s going on with Peps?”

“For real?” she makes an affirmative sound while taking out a wine bottle, maybe Steve won’t be against a little dinner with a little wine? “All right, so she’s meeting up with this scientist, rich guy, handsome, I couldn’t make his face at first right? You know I’m good with faces”

“Oh yeah you are the best” she says off-handed 

“Well, so I run his credentials. I make him. Aldrich Killian. We actually met the guy back in... where were we in ‘06? the science conference?”

“Um... Switzerland” she says barely stopping the sadness from spilling in her voice, it was the same conference Yinsen told her they met before, the remainder of the old man clutching her heart

“Right, right, exactly” she thinks for a minute

“Killian.... nope, I don’t remember that guy” she answers

“Of course you don’t remember, you were drunk, so drunk in fact you flirted with him, and he was all over you, it was creepy, let me tell you. Anyway with Pepper, first it was fine, they were talking business, but now it’s like, getting weird, he’s showing her.... his big brain” Tasha almost chokes at that

“I’m sorry what? His what?” she asks containing a hysterical laughter

“Big Brain and she likes it, here, let me show you” Happy makes a show of putting the SPad in the air, trying to point to the offices, but the only thing Tasha can see is the bodyguard with a focused look, she giggles

“Sorry Hap, I only see you watching them, flip the screen and then we can get started”

“I’m not a tech genius like you, I don't know how to do that, but just trust me, get down here and help me”

"Can't right now, I'm busy, you know? planning big robots and Christmas gifts" she says choosing two wines 

"Is just... I don’t trust this guy, see? He’s got another guy with him, and he’s shifty” Tasha rolls her eyes 

“Come on Happy, relax, just secure the perimeter, tell them to go out for a drink or something and trust her good sense”

“You know what? You should take more of an interest in what’s going on here, she is your best friend and the best thing that ever happened to us and you're just ignoring her”

“Happy, Happy, you don’t want my help to woo Pepper okay? You can do that on your own, remember how I tried? And failed? Miserably at that? Yeah, you can do that alone” she makes a pause, then “A giant brain really?"

“Yeah there’s a giant brain, there’s a shifty character I’m gonna follow this guy, I’m gonna run his plates and I’m gonna... you know? if it gets rough so be it”

“Don’t get into trouble Happy, or then Pepper is definitely going to be mad at you” she takes a white wine bottle, thinking if Steve would like it, she looks at her friend with melancholic “I miss you Happy”

“Yeah I miss you too... but the way it used to be, now you are off with the super-friends in New York and Captain Perfect and I don’t know what’s going on with you anymore” he complains 

“That’s a low blow Haps, even for you” she sisses 

“I get that you are super in love with this guy and all but couldn’t you call more often? I really need your help here” Happy all but whines

“Okay, first of all, I’m not super in love with Steve, okay? I just.... like him” her ex-bodyguard snorts

“Yeah right, as if I didn't know you”

“Shut up, he is a good friend, the best actually, he is taking all your positions one by one since you all keep teasing me, and I’m not going to blow that up for a stupid crush”

“Toni” she rolls her eyes again “I know you, you don’t have crushes unless the person is otherworldly, and you have been into this guy since you move into the Tower, but even with that you have to help your friends, help me!”

“As I said, I can’t help you wooing Pepper, but I can ask her to come to dinner and I’ll talk to her about all your redeeming qualities, how about that?” she offers 

“You’ll do that for me?” he sounds hopeful and she smiles fondly 

“Of course Hap, what are friends for? anyway, I got to cut you off, get you taser and stop that evil secretary to steal the printing ink, bye” she cuts her ex-bodyguard before he can start his everyday rant of how Pepper’s the best and is way out of his league, speaking of which... “Hey J, you order what I told you to?”

“Of course miss, the orders should be arriving by evening tonight” Tasha smirks, if someone thinks that she can’t make Christmas presents they are very very wrong

 ~

Steve is quite impressed with Tasha’s House in Malibu, yet he definitely doesn’t show it, the beach house has more of the playgirl the others talk about when describing Tash though. He wonders what the genius is doing in her lab as he prepares dinner, Tasha only came out once after returning to see Rhodey, visibly upset about something, to get an enormous box that was delivered and to tell Steve that Pepper was joining them for dinner, the soldier nods, just a tiny bit disappointed that he didn’t get to spent time alone with the busy genius, not that he ever was going to admit that though. The sun was setting when he heard Pepper’s car outside and seconds later the woman herself enters the house

“I’m sorry I am late, I was stuck with some papers” she says while crossing the crystal door 

“Hey Miss Potts” Steve greets her from the dining room where he is setting the plates

“Steve, nice to see you, Tasha told me you were coming, but please call me Pepper” she smiles

“Pepper, right” Steve bashfully concedes “Tasha is in her workshop if you want to call her over while I finish here”

“Of course”

~ 

“Hey Toni” Pepper greets the genius that’s working hard on her desk

“Pepper!” the young woman excitedly goes and hugs her “What’s with all of you calling me Toni today, it’s so not cute” she pouts as Pepper giggles, Tasha moves her eyebrows mischievously “So.... how was your date with Aldrich Killian?” the older woman makes a disbelieving expression

“Aldrich Killian, seriously? How do you even know about him? Are you checking on me?” Pepper mocks indignation 

“I wasn’t, I called and Happy updated me” she sends Tasha a suspicious look, she raises her hands “I swear I wasn’t spying, I’m just worried, who is this guy? You like him? Is he sweet on you?”

“Of course not, he went to propose a business partnership, also I’m quite certain that he might be sweet on you instead, he looked very disappointed when I told him you weren’t joining us” Pepper crosses her arms “Thanks for calling by the way, we could go to the city to have breakfast you know?” Tasha winces

“Yeah sorry, as soon as I unpacked I went to see Rhodey, his time in the army must be perfect” she dry sarcasm

“Yes I can see he is your favorite” Tasha sends her an apologetic look “He was worried about you by the way, how are you feeling, he said you were quite paled when you left”

“Of course he called you, who’s spying on who now?”

“Toni....” she makes a face at the name

“What can I say? I’m a piping hot mess okay?” Pep looks at her barely containing her worry causing the genius to sigh “It’s been going on for a while, I admit that”

“A while? Tasha, it has been 2 years since the battle of New York!” she exclaims and the inventor has to avert her gaze

“It’s just... see, you experience things, and then they’re over and you still can’t explain them, gods, aliens, other dimensions? I’m just a woman in a big can, SI and SHIELD keeps me busy, I’m building almost a suit each month and I could build so much more.... and in honesty, the only reason I haven’t cracked up is probably because everyone moved in, which is great because I love them, they are the best super family ever and I’m lucky of having you and them” Tasha takes her hands kindly and stares at Pepper's eyes intently “But.... I can’t sleep, if I try I get a few hours of rest before a nightmare comes rushing to wake me up in the worst posible way, I keep tinkering with things even after the others went to sleep” Tasha sighs “Nat, Clint, Bruce, Steve and Thor when he is here, they are doing their best and I appreciate that, but threat is imminent, and I have to protect the one thing that I can’t live without”

“Steve?” Pep mutters trying to cheer the genius up

“My family, sweetheart, and that includes you too” Natasha does her best to prevent herself from blushing hard

“Sure Tash, let’s pretend you weren’t sober when you kissed him last Christmas” the girl almost chockes in her own spit

“How do you... you know what? I don’t want to know” with Pepper, Natasha has learned to just stop prying into some things 

“Come on, your knight in shiny armor is waiting for us with a warm meal” Pep coerces her up, while Steve tries to make as if his enhence hearing didn’t listen to everything


	5. Breaking point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every person has a limit... and he just crossed hers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the small hiatus, it was a crazy week, but I'm back hopefully with a chapter every night.  
> also, there's going to be more chapter cause, literally, I'm copping Iron Man 3 letter by letter from the movie (I wanted a script QnQ) but with my own twist... the biggest changes come from the next chapter forward (or so I think)

Steve can’t sleep, again. But this time, the reason is a snarky, abrasive, kind and cute genius. He doesn’t really think that he's pinning, (Nat, Clint, Bruce, Fury, Coulson, and Rhodey call bullshit) but he's certainly interested in the younger woman, she has something that Steve can’t quite name, that make everyone be more protective of her, yet she isn’t any damsel in distress. In the two years he knew her, she had been kidnapped five times, four of which she had practically rescued herself and the other the kidnappers couldn’t even take her with them, so that's that. 

The soldier looks at the Cap-bear that Tasha gave to him as a Christmas present... together with a box full of Avengers bears, Iron Bear included, and smiles inwardly, she gave them to both of them at dinner, along with a dramatic speech that had Pepper rolling her eyes and Steve almost weeping. 

Looking at the ceiling, he has enough time to think about what he overheard before dinner, and about said party itself. It was the Avengers' Christmas party, Steve was looking out for a very, very drunk Natasha Stark that had taken on herself the task of flirting with every person that allows her to, which meant absolutely everyone. In a moment the drunk genius had looked at him with intensity and kissed him, softly at first but a bit more rough after  
“Tash, I...” Steve had tried to tell her about the recent, more than friendly, feelings that he had been developing for his best friend, but at that moment the genius had become a death weight as her breath turned more profound, that could only mean one thing: she had fallen asleep. The next morning the youngest member of the group of heroes had the worst hangover, with no recollection of the last night... or at least that was what Steve thought until now... because if what Pepper said was true, and based on Tasha's reaction, that was likely the case, Natasha was sober... so... so... why did she kissed him? and even worst... why did she stop? 

Unable to keep his anxiety at bay any further, he goes out of his bedroom to Tasha’s door, slightly hoping that the genius is awake, since he really wants to ask about it, a second later he can hear quiet whimpers and gaps, worried, he decides to enter her room, quietly asking JARVIS for permission, which he grants. Steve finds Tasha shuddering in her sleep and practically runs to her side 

“Tash... Tasha... Natasha!” he shakes her awake, she does with a jolt

“S-Steve?”

“Hey, I’m here” Steve hugs her and pets her soft hair to get her breathing to stabilize

“I just... there were aliens... and the wormhole.... and I couldn’t breath... and then Howard....” she immediately shuts her mouth with the little conscience she has. Steve scowls

“Howard?” what does his old friend and father of the genius has to do with anything?

“I... I’m sorry Steve” she sobs, the 40’s soldier decides to be a gentleman and not ask her any further, he just stays there, hugging the girl that had become his best friend in this century and humming an old lullaby, at least until JARVIS speaks and changes everything

It’s 4:00 in the morning when a ring wakes them completely up

“Miss... it’s a call from the hospital” it’s how they learn that Happy was injured in an explosion

~ 

“True story about fortune cookies: they look Chinese, they sound Chinese, but they’re actually an American invention, which is why they’re hollow, full of lies, and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knockoff. The Chinese theatre. Mr. President, I know this must be getting frustrating, but this season of terror is drawing to a close, and don’t worry, the big one is coming, your graduation”.

~ 

Natasha Stark is watching Happy in his hospital bed, she had always hated hospitals since she was a kid, they used to represent "accidents" that were actually beatings that went too far; it wasn’t any different now, but for one of her bests friends, she could endure it. She had been there for almost twelve hours, she put every guard she could in the entrance. Happy had been in surgery for a good four hours while the doctors were trying to stabilize him and to stop the internal bleeding, he hadn’t been too close to the explosion... but he hadn't been that far away either. Tasha went through her messages, worried texts from Clint, Bruce, Nat, Pepper, Coulson, and even Uncle Fury. While the nurse checked on her ex-bodyguard, she makes the motion of turning off the TV, Tasha stops her before that

“Hi” the nurse makes a startled noise “Hey, do you mind leave that on?”

“Sure..” she says a little hesitant

“It’s just... Sunday nights. PBS. Downton Abbey” she looks at the unconscious man in the bed, it breaks her heart seeing her dear friend that has been taking care of her since she was 15 like that “That’s his show, he thinks it’s elegant” she makes a pause, before turning to see Happy’s nurse “One more thing, make sure everyone wears their badges, he’s a stickler for that sort of thing... plus my guys won’t let anyone in without them” she gets out of the room and looks the horde of reporters outside the main entrance, she really doesn’t want to deal with them right now, being as upset as she is, there's almost a 90% chance she is going to do something stupid. She can even hear them all the way inside the hospital's lobby

“We’re awaiting the arrival of genius and CEO of Stark Industries, Natasha Stark, we’re hoping she’ll give us the reaction... her reaction to the latest attack” Tasha groans, before putting on her sunglasses, it had been a good move to tell Steve to wait for her, he doesn’t have to put up with more reporters bullshit. Who told them that was the hospital where Happy was anyway?... better yet, how did they knew her friend Happy had been in the attack? She doesn’t wait for an answer as she goes out and all the cameras flash on her “Ms, Stark! Hi there, our sources are telling us that all the signs are pointing to another Mandarin attack, what do you think about that?” the interviewers get in her way to her car, but she moves with ease, confident and with all the attitude of who doesn’t give a crap of what others think about her, she's just about to escape all the vultures when a male voice makes her snap, it isn’t as much as him as what he says though

“Hey, Ms. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy?” She turns glaring at the guy “I’m just saying”

“Is that what you want?” she snarls, all the cameras go wild. She was doing such a good job of controlling herself, for Happy, for Pepper, for Rhodey, for the rest of her family... but she had enough, she’s tired of all of this, she didn’t fly a nuke through a wormhole so any idiot could come and hurt her family, her PTSD isn't for nothing dammit!. She didn’t take any alien bullshit, hell she won’t take any shit from any fucking wannabe terrorist “Here’s a little holiday greeting I’ve been wanting to send to the Mandarin, I didn’t before out of respect to all the effort our government is putting to catch him, but now... If you think you can hurt my employee for free you are wrong. My name is Natasha Stark and I’m not afraid of you, I know you’re a coward, so I’ve decided...” she takes off her glasses and all but glares at the reporter, venom dripping in every word “That you just died, pal. I’m gonna come to get the body. Don’t even try to underestimate me, cause you’ll regret it. There’s no politics here, it’s just good old-fashioned revenge. There’s no Pentagon, not even Iron Man... it’s just you and me, and on the off chance you’re a man, here’s my home address: 10880 Malibu Point 90265” she has a predatory smirk that only her most hated business rivals and enemies had seen, the 'Death Grin' some used to call it “I’ll leave the door unlocked” she takes the reporter's smartphone “That’s what you wanted right?” then she proceeds to throw it against a wall, some of the people there, gasps, she just smiles fakely at him and with a simple “Bill me” she disappears inside of her car

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> every kudo, every comment, and every bookmark is treasured and used as inspiration <3


	6. Everything falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Do you at least have a plan?"  
> "As a matter of fact, I do..."  
> "A plan that doesn't involve us dying or getting hurt?"  
> "I said I have a plan, not a miracle"
> 
> ~Steve and Tasha at some point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't walk away, don't walk away, ooh when the world is burning  
> ~Carnival of rust- Poets of the Fall

“I’ve compiled a Mandarin database for you, Miss, drawn from SHIELD, FBI and CIA intercepts” JARVIS informs her, she nods rubbing her head, she has a full headache in effect. She just arrived when Steve yelled at her for doing another crazy and stupid thing, ' _It was an idiot, reckless and unnecessary decision_ ' were his almost exacts words, after that, Nat had called and before she could tell JARVIS to block the call, he had answered it, the traitor, so Tasha had to listen to the shouting of both spies with the imminent threat that they were going to take the first jet to Malibu, Hulk included because Bruce had to go calm himself down, admittedly she did feel a little bad for that. After them, uncle Nick and Coulson managed to override her no phone calls order to JARVIS (or he betrayed her again) and proceed to scowl her... both of them, hell even Hill told her that that had been a stupid ass move. Tasha groans again as she can feel a spike of pain, good thing she worked a little on her armors before deciding to do her research as a little relaxation therapy. She's certain that the only reason Rhodey and Pepper haven’t call yet, is because the first one has military business to attend to and haven’t even see the news and the other's busy working SI’s way out of her mess, she has a lot more yelling in her nearby future, she sends the holographic images to the bigger projector “Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction”

“Okay, what have we got here?.... His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle meaning ‘advisor to the king’, has South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher, there’s lots of theater going on here” she makes a motion of closing some information windows

“The heat from the blast was in excess of 3,000 degrees Celsius, any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly” JARVIS informs her

“No bomb parts found in a three-mile radius of the Chinese Theatre?” she looks every part of the scene 

“No Miss” Tasha sighs and Happy’s holographic body is shown before her

“Talk to me Happy” she follows her friends gaze to a pile of debris “When is a bomb not a bomb?” she finally finds what she is searching for, what her dear friend was looking at the moment of the explosion, a pair of dog tags “Any military victims?” she asks

“Not according to public record, Miss” Tasha climbs up her desk

“Bring up the thermogenic signatures again, factor in 3,000 degrees”

“The Oracle cloud has completed analysis, accessing satellites and plotting the last 12 months of thermogenic occurrences now” in the map, a lot of temperatures spikes raises

“Take away everywhere that there’s been a Mandarin attack” a lot of points disappears, she checks one by one of the remaining ones until her gaze lands on Tennesse “That, are you sure that’s not one of his?”

“It predates any known Mandarin attack, the incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide. The heat signature is remarkably similar, 3,000 degree Celsius” the report shows a man in the US army

“That’s two military guys...” Tasha mutters to herself “Guess that settles it, ever been to Tennesse, JARVIS?”

“Creating a flight plan for Tennessee” the AI says for all answer, she closes the interface and hears the doorbell, Steve opens her workshop door a few seconds after

“Tash you have a guest” he says looking curiously inside the shop

“Yeah? Who might that be? I mean, I know I invited the Mandarin earlier but I didn’t expect him to come so soon” Steve scowls at that, Tasha’s actions were completely stupid and irresponsible

“That’s so not funny” Tasha sighs, yeah, Steve's still mad at her, not really surprising if she thinks about it for more than a second 

“It’s not” she concedes “But it’s a fact, JARVIS, why are we still at ding-dong? we are supposed to be on total security lockdown, come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?”

“There’s only so much I can do Miss when you give the world’s press your home address” JARVIS deadpans and Steve sends her a look, she rolls her eyes. She has a little bit of oil in her face, probably there’s also in her loose bun, her eyes have bags from all the all-nighters and nightmares and her demeanor in general is quite messy. Steve thinks she looks beautiful, her eyes fired up with determination

“So... who’s at the door?” the Captain snaps from his ogl- assessment; because he was definitely and positively not ogling her, just because she might have been sober and conscious when she kissed him didn’t mean...

“It’s a scientist that says she knows you” Tasha scrunches her nose adorably

“Please tell me there’s no upset husband or boyfriend just about to murder me because that’s the last thing I need”

“What?” ' _Why would there be? Tasha, what did you do?_ ' is Steve's first thought

“Because if there is, you are saving me” she says exiting the workshop and going to the entrance, Steve in tail, where she sees the gorgeous brunette she met 7 years ago, Tasha points her gauntlet at the woman and, ' _When did she get it?_ ' Steve thinks

“You are not the Mandarin... are you? Are you?” Tasha looks at her suspiciously

“You don’t remember” the woman chuckles bitterly “Why am I not surprised?”

“Don’t take it personally, I don’t remember what I had for breakfast” she deadpans 

“That would be gluten-free waffles” Steve chimes in, Tash sends him a look ‘ _really, Rogers?_ ’

“Okay, look, I need to be alone with you someplace not here, it’s urgent” Tasha turns around and start walking to the living room

“Normally I would go for that sort of thing but now... I’m kind of reserving myself” she makes a point to see Steve who isn’t looking at her as he is tossing bags and his shield from behind the couch

“So...” the super soldier looks at her with all the fake charm he learned from the USO as soon as he's back “Who are you?”

“Her name is Maya Hansen, it’s an old botanist pal, that I used to know... barely” Steve can totally hear when she whispers to the other woman “Please don’t tell me there’s a furious husband trying to beat me to death”

“He went for the bat actually, he should be back soon” Maya deadpans this time, Tasha shudders “No, I need your help”

“But... what for? Why now? I'm busy”

“I don't doubt it and frankly, I don’t think you’ll last the week”

“I’ll be fine but thanks for the confidence vote” the little genius rolls her eyes

“I didn’t think you were expecting old friends... or girlfriends... Tasha?” Steve has his ‘ _oh you are in so much trouble_ ’ trademark smile as he gets close to both girls

“She‘s not, really” Tasha really doesn't want Steve getting the wrong idea... whatever that might be

“No, not really, I... It was just... one night... seven years ago” Maya mutters and Tasha closes her eyes briefly as she prepares herself for a world of pain

“Wait... you slept with her?! she was underage! That’s illegal!” Maya looks stricken and actually winces under Steve words

“Wait... you weren’t 22 back then? you aren't 29?!” Tasha smiles innocently

“I might have been actually 16 back then” she thinks about for a second and adds offended "Wait... What? Do I actually look like I'm 29 years old?" 

“What?! Oh my god I assaulted a minor” Maya takes some steps back in shock

“How is it that you believed her to be legal? She barely even looks legal now and she’s 23!!” Steve sounds completely outraged

“I might have contributed with that” Tasha defends her former partner

“Stark please don’t say anything further” Hansen whispers as she turns around

“Hey, it's not a big deal okay? Obediah gave me consent... once, and I never did anything I didn’t want to, see? Nothing illegal at all”

“It is a big deal and... Please stop talking” Steve begs as he pinches his nose

“Guys” Maya speaks from in front of the TV

“Don’t be such a party popper Cap”

“It’s not about that Stark, and this is not up for discussion, this is something important and serious, does director Fury knows about this?”

“Guys”

“Oh, so I’m back to be Stark now? What does uncle Nick have to do with anything anyway?”

“That’s not what I meant and-”

“Guys! Can we, um...”

“What?” both ask irritated at the same time

“Do we need to worry about that?” in the news Channel there’s a live feed of Tasha’s Malibu house and a missile going straight at it, everyone turns to look at the same time it impacts in the wall, sending all of them backwards with the explosion, Tasha sees Steve flying and before she can even think about it, she sends her Iron Man armor to cover and protect him just at the same time they hit the wall. She coughs once, the air knocked out of her ‘ _We have to get out of here_ ’ is what goes through her mind seeing Maya’s unconscious body a few feet from her, she looks up and sees how the ceiling starts collapsing, next thing she knows is that it falls on top her Iron Man armor, the face plate opens allowing her to see the beautiful face of Steve

“I got you” he whispers, she smiles, everything's momentarily forgotten

“Yeah, but I got you first, winghead” she answers sweetly, a lovestruck expression on her face that makes Rogers blush slightly “Get your shield, we can’t stay here” she says getting up, another missile impacts on the side of the house, sending her to the side of the window knocking the sofa in her fall, Steve turns to her “Move! I’m right behind you” Tasha jumps the couch, but before she can reach Steve, the floor between them falls apart, Steve looks at her with determination on his eyes

“Move aside Tash, I’m going to get you” he says taking a jumping stand

“No!” she shouts “You need to get Maya, take her out of here, I’m gonna find a way around” Steve makes a negative movement with his head “Stop stopping, you know the rules spangles, Civilian's lives take priority, go, get her out” Rogers looks like he still wants to do the jump “GO!” Tasha yells, making the Captain’s mindset to make the choice and save the scientist. Rogers goes to get Maya Hansen and tosses his shield through the crystal door breaking it, but he doesn't know how the suit works so, without meaning it, he repulses themselves across the frame and crashes a few meters from the entrance.

Another missile impacts the house and the ceiling of the entrance collapse trapping the genius inside

“TASHA!!!” Steve screams as he goes to move the rocks so he can re-enter

Inside, Natasha falls and rolls to the window once more, she grabs an iron support just in time as her feet hit the window, shattering it, she pushes herself up and rests against it

“Miss, the Captain is clear of the structure” JARVIS voice tells her and she breaths relieving, then she points her hands together in that direction and to her again, ordering her armor to return, Steve is trying to take a rock so he can get inside the house and get Tasha when the Iron Man armor separates itself from him and flies through a hole in the falling ceiling. The helicopters start shooting and Tasha sorts them just in time for her armor to attach to her body, when she is ready to fight is when the missile shot the last support of the house

“Tasha!!” she can hear Steve voice clearer, which means that he’s getting inside the house, she can’t have that, it’s too dangerous, super serum be damned, she shoots her soft repulsor at the heat signature of Steve inside the house to send him flying back, she falls with the house

“JARVIS, where’s my flight power?” she demands

“Working on it, Miss, this is a prototype” she climbs the structure with bullets ricocheting everywhere, she sees her piano falling and takes the opportunity, she lets herself to slide down and fires her repulsors to the piano at the exact same time to send it flying to the nearest helicopter, it takes it down

“That’s one” she mutters, she climbs and stand again

“Miss, the suit is not combat ready” JARVIS warns her, the hud show ‘system failure’. The machine-gun fires at her again, she takes a little missile of the suit and tosses it in another helicopters direction and fires her repulsor beam making it explode. Outside, Steve has to put his shield up as one of the other choppers fires non-stop at him and Maya, he can see one of them flying out of control in the house direction, he can’t move or he is going to put the scientist in danger

“That’s two” Tasha claims, her smile erases quickly seeing how it explodes inside the house, she falls helmet first in the floor and grunts, the floor vanish beneath her and she falls to her workshop level, she sees in horror how everything she owns falls to the sea, another two missiles impact the house, destroying it completely. She holds herself grabbing a column, but it’s useless because she is falling. She splashes into the water, with tons of debris collapsing on top of her. A loose cable traps her and drags her to the bottom, she is trapped, and she is drowning, fricking again, she gasps and pants, unsure of what to do, finally she gets herself free from the cable, only to be trapped again by rocks and cement

Outside, the last helicopter stops shooting both survivors and retreats, Steve runs to the ruins of the house, only to see that the rest of the Malibu luxurious house isn’t there anymore

“NATASHA!!!! “ he screams in horror

Inside the water, her air is ending and all her armor is being crushed by tons in weight

“Miss, take a deep breath” JARVIS says to her, before separating the gauntlet from the armor to use it as a lever so they can release her, the gauntlet attaches to her again and the repulsors start firing “Flight power restored” he informs her as he takes them both out of the water and onto the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, stray kudos and comments will be taken care of  
> Also, I uploaded a prequel for Not a kid, if you guys are interested and I’ll continue this fic as soon as I finish writing chapter 10 :D


	7. Back-up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tasha finds help in the most unexpected way

The rest of the Avengers are flying in the Quinjet to Malibu for a 'Stark intervention' when Bruce calls them, an urgent tone to his voice 

“Guys! Come see this!” Clint and Nat look at each other, they put the jet in autopilot and go to the back, where Bruce is seeing the footage of Tasha’s Stark house being attacked by missiles that some brave reporter took from a nearby cliff 

“Bozhe moy” Nat whispers as she sees the Iron Man armor get out with a woman

“But where’s Steve...?” Clint quietly asks before the armor separate itself revealing that in fact, the person inside it was Rogers, who goes into the house just to be repulsed back seconds after, two helicopters fail, but the third starts shooting at Captain America and the civilian who now hide behind Steve’s shield. The house falls to its doom with no sign of the genius getting out. The headline makes everyone feel deep concern ‘ _Billionaire Natasha Stark Missing_ ’, Clint makes a choked sound as he listens to the news' reporter say how likely is that the eccentric inventor is dead; Bruce looks in pain, despair and a twinge of green crosses through his eyes

“She is not dead” Nat tells them, even if it seems that she is saying that to calm herself “She can’t be, the armor went to her so it’s almost certain that she made it out last second” she looks at her two friends “We know her, and she does that, a lot”

Next minute, they receive a phone call from Nick Fury who tells them that SHIELD's going to personally take the situation on their hands

~ 

“Miss?” a voice calls her, but Tasha is swimming in darkness and confusion, an extremely loud sound takes her out into consciousness “Miss!”

“All right... kill the alarm J, I got it” she slurs

“That’s the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below 5%” that phrase wakes her

“Oh-oh” the alarm increases in intensity “Oh no no no no no...” Tasha starts screaming as she sees how close is to crash with a car in the highway, she bumps in the pavement a few times and hit some trees until she finally stops in the middle of something white, soft and cold “It’s snowing, right? Where are we, upstate?”

“We are five miles outside of Rose Hill, Tennessee” her AI informs her 

“Why?” she asks barely suppressing the chills “JARVIS. Not my idea! What are we doing here? This is thousands of miles away from home! I gotta get Steve, I gotta tell him that I’m fine, I gotta...”

“I prepared a flight plan, this was the location “

“Who asked you?” she trembles “Open the suit” JARVIS’ voice crackles

“I... I think I may be malfunctioning Miss”

“Open it, J” the suit opens and Tasha promptly freezes in the cold

“I actually think I need to sleep now, Miss” JARVIS says as the suit powers down

“JARVIS? JARVIS? Please... please don’t leave me now, buddy” she begs to no avail, her friend is down, she is all alone. But she is gonna get out of this, she is Tasha Stark for god’s sake. She drags her armor through the snow, all the way to a little store, where she first stoles a poncho (she lefts a few dollars on the entrance shut up) and then she proceeds to call her security server, so it can transfer her message to all her receivers, she sends one to Nat’s code and one to Steve’s code

“Hey Winghead, so, the good news is that I’m alive. Firstly I want to apologize for being an idiot and put you in danger, and I don’t give a crap about the super serum, you are one of my best friends and I want you safe, period. Also here’s another apology... because I won’t go home yet and I’m still going to do stupid things, sorry... but I need to find this guy, you can laugh of me if you want later... I just grabbed a poncho from a wooden Indian, you know?" she laughs "any way... I’ll see you soon okay? Love ya Spangles”

Tasha keeps walking on the snow 'till she finds a shelter, she enters it by kicking the door in the most badass way possible. It’s dark inside, but there are a desk and a sofa, she puts her armor on the couch and sits in front of the desk, she is barely getting comfortable when a U.S.K (unidentified small kid) points at her from the doorway, granted, she probably deserves it for trespassing, she raises her hands in mock surrender

“You got me” she looks at the kid’s weapon with curiosity “Nice potato gun, the barrel’s a little long though, between that and the wide gauge it’s probably gonna diminish your FPS...” the kid fires and destroys a cup of glass “okay... point proven... but now you’re out of ammo”

“What’s that thing on your chest?” oh yeah, she forgot that the general public doesn’t know about her arc reactor, of course, nobody would know about it since nobody knows she is Iron Man

“It’s an electromagnet... but you should know that, seeing as you got a box of them right here” 

“What does it power?” Tasha turns the light on and moves aside to let the kid see her armor sitting, the USK gaps in awe “Oh my god.... that’s... is that... Iron Man?... Is Iron Man here?” the words leaves her before she can control them

“Technically I’m Iron Man” she says

“You can’t be Iron Man! You are a girl! What are you 15?”

“And what are you? 8?” she rolls her eyes “Look, kid, if I tell you that I’m Iron Man is because I’m Iron Man okay? I’ll put my suit on to prove my point but I kinda need to repair it first, also... rude, and I can assure, if you keep telling girls that they can’t be superheroes, you won’t be popular any time soon” she sticks her tongue out at the kid, proving once more how mature Tasha Stark can be, he just shrugs as if accepting easily that a 20 something young woman can be one of the Mighty Avengers

“Uh-huh, whatever you say” the kid goes next to MARK XLII “What happened to him?”

“Life kid, I built him, I take care of him, I’ll fix him”

“Like a mechanic? You know? If I was building Iron Man and War Machine, I would have added in, um... the retro...”

“retro-reflective panels?”

“Yeah, to make him stealth mode” Tasha thinks about it for a second

“Yeah, you know what? That’s actually a good idea, I’ll probably build one..,” she gets close to the kid and sits in front of him as she pokes his nose, she won’t admit it but he's quite adorable “So... who’s home?”

“Well... my mom already left for the dinner, and Dad went to 7-11 to get scratchers... I guess he won ‘cause that was six years ago” he says in a more timid voice, she crosses her arms

“Huh... dads... who needs ‘em, I sure coulda live without mine” she bitterly adds “Hey, listen, would you like to be my little brother?”

“Your... what?”

“Little brother! Or.. is it too fancy term for assistant?” she raises an eyebrow “I need an assistant kid, I also happen to need a laptop, a digital watch, a cell phone, the pneumatic actuator from your bazooka over there, a map of town, a big spring and a tuna fish sandwich” the kid looks at her funny “What? My house was blown, I’m bleeding and I’m hungry” the boy narrows his eyes

“What’s in for me?”

“You become my little brother! Isn't it obvious?” now is the kid’s turn to raise an eyebrow “Okay fine, what about... salvation. What’s his name?”

“Who?”

“The kid that bullies you at school, what’s his name?”

“How’d you know that?”

“Well you are a genius little kid, and I was just like you, too quirk for this world and too little to defend myself” she goes to her armor and opens a slot “I got just the thing you need” she takes a golden tube and shows him “This is a pinata for a cricket... Nah I’m kidding, this is a very powerful weapon, point it away from your face, press the button on top, it discourages bullying, non-lethal, just to cover one’s ass, deal?” she does the show of putting out of reach and giving him again till the kid catches it like a cat catching its toy

“Deal” the kid whispers

“So... what’s your name?” she asks

“Harley... and you’re...”

“The mechanic” she smiles at him “Tasha” she tousles his hair and then adds “You know what keeps going through my head?... Where’s my sandwich?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isn't it weird when you stop liking things you used to enjoy?   
> have a nice week everybody


	8. A walk in Rose Hill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers arrive at the scene and there's a surprise for them, meanwhile, Tasha decides to investigate the little town of Rose Hill, what could go wrong?
> 
> A.K.A: the third most memorable bar fight on Tasha's life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for mild description of a panic attack

When the other Avengers arrive at the destroyed Malibu house, SHIELD's already on scene, Fury shouting to his agents

“I don’t fucking care about your excuses, Natasha Stark is an invaluable asset to this organization, you look for her and find her!”

Steve looks as if he is going to jump to the water... again, Coulson had to fish him out the last time, but right now he’s pacing

“Rogers!” Nat calls at him, the man looks appalled, they send him to look out for the genius and now... Steve thinks that they have every right to be pissed at him yet the spy only hugs him “It’s okay, we are going to find her” he nods, blinking back the tears of worry and despair   

Coulson gets out of one of the tents and calls them

“There’s something I need you guys to see” the agent takes them to a seclude tent, the five of them followed by Maya Hansen' eyes, once inside he talks to the heroes “We used our codes to enter to Stark’s private security... there’s a new message for you agent Romanov, but I need your access code” he pushes at her a tablet with a microphone and Nat proceeds to talk loud and clear

“Access code: One-Alpha-Zero-Three-Beta-Red-S-W-Five-Three” the screen shows ‘access granted’ and immediately sounds a voice that makes everyone breath in relief

“So apparantely... I’m not that easy to kill, well, just in case you were wondering” Tasha chuckles “Tell Pepper I’m okay please, and Rhodey, no one else... let them think I’m gone for a while, don’t worry itsy bitsy, I’m totally going back to kick their asses, relax and wait for the fireworks, I promise if I need you guys I’ll give you a call, see ya soon” the message is cut and Steve wants to kick something or to punch something because that was not nearly enough damn it!

“Is there any way of tracking the phone call?” Clint asks frowning

“I’ll have to try to hack her server, it would be easier if JARVIS was online” Coulson replies “But it will take a while”

“I need some air” Steve whispers getting out and walking to the cliff where the house’s entrance was hours ago “Common Tash... where are you? Why won’t you let us help you?” at that moment he feels a vibration in his pocket, is his StarkPhone, the screen is blue and there’s an input code, Steve types ‘Zero-Two-Charlie-Three-Five-Delta-Blue-S-S-Zero-Seven’ he keeps both of his thumbs in the lecture code, then the ‘access granted’ message appears, Steve put the phone to his ear, the machine tells him that he has a new message, that almost makes him choke  

“Hey Winghead, so, the good news is that I’m alive...” after listening to Tash, he gets a new resolve, he might not be able to help right now but he still has an idea. Steve goes back to the Phil who is talking to a baby agent “Coulson, let me take Maya Hansen to her hotel” he tells him. Coulson makes a sign to shoo the other man 

“I don’t know Captain, I don’t trust her, she looks shady, I would like to keep her to question her, at least until her records are updated”

“Trust me, I’ve thinking about it as well, but for the time being, she is a civilian, and apparently, she is also Tasha’s friend, she asked me to protect her before, and I don’t want to disappoint her” Steve says in his best Captain’s voice “It would be a good time to question her motives you know? Give her a sense of security” he adds just so the agent knows that he’s prepared for anything

“Alright... but at least let us put a tracking device on you, just in case”

~ 

“Why were you at the house tonight?” Steve kindly asks to the scientist while driving to the hotel “What was so important that you had to speak to Tash about it?” he can hear as she takes a sharp breath

“I think... that my boss is working for the Mandarin” Steve has to prevent himself from breaking the wheel from gripping it so strongly “So if you still want to talk about it I suggest that we get ourselves someplace safe first”

“I’m sorry, your boss works for the Mandarin ‘ _ _you think__ ’? But Tasha said you’re a botanist..” Maya rolls her eyes

“That figures, what I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of almost a 100 out of a privately funded think tank, but sure, you can call me a botanist”

“This boss of yours... does he have a name?”

“Yeah, Aldrich Killian” Steve thinks about why the name sounds familiar, he believes he heard it when Tasha was talking with Pepper, still, he has to get Coulson to run ID’s, for now, he focuses on getting to the hotel, on one piece preferably

~ 

“Thanks for the sandwich, by the way, it was fairly good, the spring was a little rusty and the rest of the materials I’ll make do” Tasha says to Harley as they walk through town “Also, when you said your sister had a watch I was kind of hoping something a little more classy and mature ya know?” the kid laughs as the mechanic sees her borrowed Dora the Explorer watch  

“She’s six! Anyway it’s a limited edition so treat it well. Hey so when can we talk about New York?” he asks as they walk side by side to a dead end street

“Mmmm how about never? Yeah, let's go with that” she can feel little tremors that she force to perish by opening and closing her hands inside her pockets “And if you mention the Avengers again I’m so going to throw a snowball to your face” she warns the moment she sees the kid opening his mouth. Seriously, the kid just learned that Iron Man is actually a gorgeous and young female and he just wants to talk about Cap and birdbrain? _ugh_. They soon arrive at a little sort of outside sanctuary, Tasha looks around “So... what’s the official story here?”

“I guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live roundabouts, he won a bunch of medals in the army... one day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb, then he blew himself up, right here”

“Six people died right?” Harley nods, Tasha keeps looking at the walls “Including Chad Davis” the kid makes an affirmative noise again “That doesn’t make sense” she sits next to him “Think about it, six dead, only five shadows”

“Well... people said these shadows are like the marks of souls going to heaven, except the bomb guy, he went to hell, on account of he didn’t get a shadow and that’s why there’s only five” he makes a pause “You know what this crater reminds me off?”

“I have no idea and honestly I don’t care” she says, having the idea of what the kid wants to talk about

“The gigantic wormhole in New York, does it remind you? Do you think the aliens are coming back?”

“That’s cruel and manipulative kid, I don’t want to talk about it” she deadpans, sensing a horrible and dread feeling crawling in her back and in her arms and a wave of nausea surrounding her “Remember that I told you that I have an anxiety issue?”

“Does this subject makes you edgy?”

“Yeah, mind if you let me catch my breath? just be quiet for a moment” she tenses feeling as if the world closes on her as if she is back to space

“Ok so better tell me, are there bad guys in Rose Hill?... Do you need a plastic bag to breathe into?.... Do you have medication?” Tasha moves her head negatively, her breathing speeds and the kid’s voice sounds far in the distant, leaving her only with the sensation of her trembling arms and her need for oxygen because she is in her suit again and she’s off on the space and she can’t breathe and her suit is plumbing and the aliens... oh god the entire armada... she takes a deep breath and tries to keep it so she can regulate herself... it doesn’t work “Don’t you need to be on it?” Harley's voice comes back to her

“Probably” she wheezes

“Do you have PTSD? Are you going completely mental? I can stop, so you want me to stop?”

“Stop it! You are gonna freak me out” she snaps feeling as her breath gets knock out, she’s out of oxygen, and her palms are sweaty even in the cold, she stands up and starts walking “Ah man, you did it, didn’t you? Are you happy now?” she asks without really wanting an answer, she just has to get away from that crater, that crater that resembles too much like... too much like... she makes an unhuman effort so she doesn’t run and completely looses it, she takes her jacket, panting, letting herself to finally collapse in the snow, she bends and her face feels the cold soft substance, reminding her that she is on earth, not up there, there are no aliens, she is alright

“What the hell was that?” Harley asks finally catching up with her, she throws at him a little snowball

“That... was your fault, you spazzed me out” she takes her jacket and baseball cap “Back to business, where were we?” she sniffs “About the guy that died, relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?” she asks a little more urgently that she initially intends, but she whishes to change the subject as soon as possible

“Where she always is...”

“See.. that’s you being helpful” Harley points the direction she needs to go “So.. wait for me here” she says him and walks to a bar in the middle town she crashes with an elegant lady and stops to give her wallet, she was a little odd but hey, Tasha Stark ain’t judging. As she enters she can feel the christmasy atmosphere, she looks around until she sees an older woman who doesn’t looks like in a merry spirit “Mrs. Davis?” Tasha asks getting closer, the woman looks up to her with a tired expression “May I join you?”

“Free country” the mechanic takes that as a positive answers and sits down in front of her “All right, where would you like to start?”

“I wanted to say that I’m very sorry about your loss” she truthfully says “But I want to know what you think happened”

“Look... I brought you damn file, you take it and go” she pushes a bunch of papers towards her “Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it” Tasha eyes her curiously

"Apparently you’re waiting for someone else yeah?” the lady nods once, the genius takes a quick glance at the file, her eyes fixiating on the marker letter MIA for a second “Mrs. Davis, I must tell you, your son didn’t kill himself, and I guarantee you, he didn’t kill anyone... but someone used him... as a weapon” the woman looks flabbergasted

“You're not the person that called me after all, are you?” Tasha tilts her head

“Actually I am” the redhead from earlier put a set of cuffs in the table and proceeds to subdue Tasha to the table

“Hey! Watch the face! I live from it” she whines, she can hear the sheriff asking questions to the woman who is pushing her to the table, she cuffs Tasha hands behind her back right after and tosses her to the ground, as the sheriff and the woman keep discussion about homeland whatever security, Tasha makes a head motion to Ms. Davis, she takes notice of it and throws the file under a couch nearby. The mechanic can see how her hand glows an orange color... weird, next thing the woman burns the sheriff and takes his gun, firing it making all of the people in the bar to run screaming, Tasha runs as she can feel the woman following her, only to stop to see a guy glowing orange as well looking at her at the end of the street, she is trapped, she takes cover behind a car when the man shoots at her, she looks at the guy next to her “Crazy huh?” he just nods “Now watch this” Stark runs to a window and jumps through it, yeah... not her best idea, but she uses the leverage to pass her hands beneath her and up to her front, thank god for gymnastics and ballet classes. She has to run and slide behind a counter since the woman from earlier somehow managed to get a fuckin gun. As Tasha tries to run, the woman grabs her by the head, stamps her in the wall and proceeds to beat her, until the genius manages to turn her around and tries to choke her with the cuffs, the woman start glowing and Tasha hisses in pain from the burns but at least the metal melts and she gets free. Stark kicks an oil gallon to her direction and sends the incandescent piece of cuff right to it, making a wall of fire, she puts the dog tags in the microwave and starts it just as the, now orange-glowing, woman comes from the fire, with burns but otherwise practically intact “You walked right into this one, you know? I’ve dated hotter chicks than you”

“That’s all you got?” the woman breaths heavily, Tasha disconnects the gas and it hisses as it gets out “A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?” Stark smirks

“Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography" then she exist the building and takes cover behind an old stove. Just as see thinks she is free, she hears the metal crackling, the city water tank bending dangerously towards her, the glowing orange man next to it. Tasha doesn’t stops to look and keeps running between Christmas trees, she reaches a dead end and promptly falls before feeling the water trash her. She coffs and tries to dislodge her foot from a piece of debris, fortunately, she is not hurt, only soaked and trapped. She hears Harley’s strain voice

“Let me go!” and sees him stuggling in the unknonw orange man’s arms

“Hey kid, what would you like for Christmas?” he asks ignoring Harley’s apologies to Tasha “No, no, no I think he was trying to say ‘I want my goddamn file’”

“Don’t worry kid, it ain’t your fault.... remember what I told you about bullies?” she nods to him hopping the kid knows what to do, he does and flashes the light beacon right into the thug’s face “You like that Westworld?” she calls at him so he can let Harley go “That’s the thing about smart people... we always cover our ass” she says as she powers up and fires right at his face a little repulsor, knocking him off.   
After she frees herself with a plank she goes and takes the car keys from the pants bag of the guy, he won’t be needing them anyway.

She takes Harley back home, is the least she can do after she dragged him into that mess. Tasha parks in front of his warehouse, she gets out and opens the door for the kid

“You are welcome” he says in a condescending tone as he exits the car 

“Yeah? What for?”

“Uh... For saving your life?”

“Yeah about that, A, I saved you first and B... thanks... you are a worthy sidekick” Harley gives her and incredoulous look "And C, if you do someone a solid, don’t be a yutz, all right? Just play it cool and suave” she goes to the driver seat and opens the car “Otherwise you come off grandiose”

“Unlike you?” Tasha raises her eyebrow “You just admited that I’m a worthy sidekick, you need me... we’re connected” he says in a total bullshit tone, Tasha snickers

“You are right and my first order as your superior is to go home and be with your mom, keep your trap shut, guard the suit and stayed connected to the telephone so you better pick up when I call you okay? You are going to be my trust-worthy guy on the chair” she smiles satisfied with herself “Feel that sense of freedom? We‘re done here, no more bad guys in Rose-Hill, good job sidekick” she pats his shoulder and gets inside the car “Bye kid” she closes the door and turns on the engine. She downs her window and winks “You did good kid, I’ll send you my number so you can call me when you’re older, I can get you an R&D job if you are interested”

“So, now you’re just gonna leave me here like my dad? What happened to the ‘be my little brother’ thing?”

“Yeah” she deadpans “Think about it as if your older sister moved out, it always happens, not that I have any actual siblings to know but... yeah” she makes a pause then realization cames “Wait you’re guilt-tripping me, aren’t you?” Harley makes a total fake sad face and total fake childish voice

“I’m cold” he whispers

“I can tell...” Tasha mocks him “You know how I can tell?” she starts the engine and send him a mocking smirk “’Cause we’re connected” she chuckles as she drives away from town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it and I would love to read your thoughts. I wanted to say thank you to all of you and send a special hug to the ones who commented last time.   
> sorry for being MIA, just been in a dark place lately (cofcofcollegecofcof) but I hope I can finish the story before Christmas.   
> in the meantime, thank you all for your support


	9. Road trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cap! behind you!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a dignified summary for this one, so I'm just going to say... enjoy!

Tasha has been driving on the highway for more than an hour when she starts reading the file, she tosses it downwards feeling the weight on her shoulders, she has to stop them, she has to avenge Happy and to stop more people from being in that same situation, she sighs and when she looks at the papers again is when it clicks... the marker letters don’t spell MIA, it spells AIM as in the same company that remodel the Iron Patriot suit.... how could she missed that? She takes her phone and calls Rhodey

“Hello?”

“Back from the dead honey” she hears a deep breath from her friend and smiles, he must have gotten the gossip of her house’s unnoticed demolition “Hey tell me something, you ever have a chick straddling you and you look up and suddenly she’s glowing from the inside out, kind of a bright orange?” Tasha keeps reading the file while driving

“Yeah I’ve had that, sorry who is this?” she can hear the smirk on his face so she knows he just asks to tickle her off or because he really wants to assure himself that she is alive, Tasha would like to think it’s the first option

“It’s me babe, now, last time I went missing, if I remember correctly you came looking for me like my knight in shiny armor, what are you doing and who did you change me for?”

“Oh, you know princess, the usual, a little knock and talk, making friends in Pakistan... now you don’t get to complain because if I remember correctly, is YOU who changed me for the star and stripes kind of knight”

“Oh what can I say? Rhodey, my love, I’m weak for men in spandex” he can hear her smug grin all the way to the midle East

“But the question here is... what are you doing?”

“Research. Say, your redesign, your big rebrand, that was AIM, right?”

“Yeah? What? You're planning on redoing your suits?”

“Of course not, I, unlike others, have perfect taste, thank you very much” Rhodey chuckles and Tasha smiles “But I’m gonna find a heavy-duty comm sat right now and I need your login”

“It’s the same as it’s always been, WarMachine68”

“And the password if you are so kind”

“Well, look, I gotta change it every time certain someone hacks in” the sarcasm is evident even on the phone

“Yeah... who might that be?” she innocently says “It’s not the ‘80s, nobody says hack anymore granpa” she snorts

“Shut up, you didn’t even were on the ‘80s” Rhodey pouts “All right, WAR MACHINE ROX, with an x, all caps” Tasha faintly hears some chuckles and she laughs as well “Yeah yeah okay”

“That is so much better than stupid Iron Patriot” she mutters, she then takes an unexpected turn as she sees an event covered up by some local media. She enters into a news ban and she cuts the broadcast sound as an old man with ridicously big glasses cheers a model on, she moves to the computer and checks the net speed: horribly slow “Huh... well that ain’t gonna cut it” she can hear the door being open and the cameraman talking to her

“Excuse me, Miss, I don’t know who...” she turns and makes a 'shhh' motion and gives her best press smile “Mom I need to call you back something magical is happening” the man sings as has the look of a fan-girl “Tasha Stark is in my van” he says too excitedly

“Shh! Keep it down, come, close the door” 

“Oh my god” he says closing the back door “I knew you were still alive! Oh, wow, Can I just say, Miss, if it’s not too much trouble... I’m your and Iron Man’s biggest fan”

“Aww thank you, you are so nice... wait... is this your van or someone else is going to come in?”

“oh no no no, just us”

“Great, what’s your name?” she asks

“Gary. Say, is Iron Man around? Because I wouldn’t mind asking if he could sign my super personalite tatoo and...” before the guy gets more excited, Tasha takes his arm and makes him look into her eyes while batting her lashes in auto-pilot

“Gary great! Listen I’ve gotta issue here, I’m.... I’m helping Iron Man to chase bad guys okay? And I’m trying to grab a little something from some hard-crypt data files but I don’t have enough juice so I need you to jump on the roof right? Recalibrate the ISDN’s and pump it up by about 40%, all right? It’s a mission. You are going to help me help Iron Man so by process you are helping Iron Man himself, sounds good?” the guy looks like he is all over the moon and nods “Be quiet about it and go” Gary do as told and soon Tasha hears the bumping on the side of the van, she knocks back so he knows that she heard him and gets to work.

She enters to the national security contractors network and writes Rhodey’s info, with a little bit of her hacking skills she is already seeing all the AIM’s information, including some kind of proyect where there are videos of people, she clicks the first one of Chad Davis, then the video of the woman who attacked her earlier... but that's imposible since the woman in the video only has one arm but the one who she fight with had both, the camera cuts to the man who is speaking and she recognizes him... maybe she wasn’t as drunk as everyone thought because that’s definitely Aldrich Killian, next, she watches the video named: _Project Extremis. Injections test phase 01_. Tasha can see as some type of serum is being injected on the subjects and they begin to glow, the camera focus on the redhead and then the impossible.... a limb regrows from her cutted arm, but then the camera turns to another subject, Killian order everyone to go and take the rest with them, the man glows and shines and finally... explodes

“So... it’s not a bomb... it’s a misfire... yet... you sold it to the mandarin didn’t you? I see you... I see you” Tasha smirks in satisfaction, she has them.

~ 

“You know? We all begin wide-eyed, pure science... but then, the ego steps in, the obsession, then you look up and you realize... you are a long way from shore” Maya sadly whispers, after explaining what she did, Steve takes a pause from checking all the possible escape routes for the fifth time and looks at her

“Hey... I might not know a lot about science but I know that you can’t be too hard on yourself, for your intel, you gave your research to a think tank...”

“Yeah, but Killian built that think tank on military contracts”

“But that’s also what Stark Industries used to do... You know the difference? Tasha decided to do what's right, and she stopped selling weapons altogether, so, how about instead of judging so harshly, why don’t you do that?... Do the right thing” the scientist looks at him with wide eyes

“Wow... that’s... thank you Steve” there’s a knock in the door and the Captain checks the pep hole before opening, there’s a waiter with the food they ordered earlier, he lets him come and almost inmediately after a tall blond man breaks the poor victim’s neck, Steve throws a punch at him, hitting the man on the face, there’s a sharp pain on his neck, he takes his hand to see what is it and it’s an empty seringe, Steve feels a burning sensation on hs skin and sees in horror how the man’s hand is glowing. He goes right to his shield and beats the other with it... right until the world starts being fuzzy, the man knocks him into the floor and then takes Steve by the neck, and how is that even posible?

“Ah, so you must be Captain America” the man says cleaning his bleeding nose and jaw, Rogers can see how the cuts are cured almost instantly “Don’t even try to fight it, Extremis is more difficult to control than your super-serum so the tranquilizers are stronger and denser than what your metabolism can burn, you are going to black out in a matter of seconds, by now your body must be feeling very relaxed” the worst thing was that it did, his body was relaxing even without his concentment, then the man turns to look to Maya “Mind telling me why you where at Tasha’s tonight?”

“I’m trying to fix this thing, I didn’t know you and the master were gonna blow the place up”

“Oh I see, so you were trying to save her even after she threatened us?”

“I’ve told you, Killian, we can use her, look, if we want to launch product next year I need Stark, she just lacked a decent incentive, now she has one” Steve glares at both feeling as if he is going to black out, he doesn’t know what the serum is made of, but it’s damn strong if it can knock him out as it does seconds later

~ 

Tasha Stark is back on the track minutes later 

“Talk to me, Harley, tell me what’s happening, give me a full report”

“Well, I’m still eating that candy, can I still eat it? Do you want me to keep eating it?”

“That depends, how much have you had?”

“Two or three bowls”

“Can you still see straight?

“Sort of”

“Then that means you are still fine, get JARVIS on the phone if you could be so kind, hey J how’s my favorite son?”

“It’s totally fine Miss, I seen to do quite well for a stretch and then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry” Tasha chuckles “And Miss, you were right, once I factored in available AIM downlink facilities I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin’s broadcast signal”

“So? Where are you sending me this time? Far East? Europe? Africa? Where is him?”

“Actually, is in Miami”

“Yeah right, kid, I’m gonna have to walk you through rebooting JARVIS’s speech drive, meanwhile, where is he really? Look at the screen and tell me where he is”

“Well it does say Miami, Florida”

“Okay fine, that’s nice, real nice, now tell me... how’s my baby armor?”

“Uh, it’s not charging” as a reflect Tasha hits the breaks and the car screechs and turns to the side stopping completely, she breaths heavily, if her suit it’s not ready... if her suit is not ready... how is she going to fucking fight if her suit isn’t working?!

“Say... say that again?”

“Actually Miss, it is charging, but the power source is questionable, it may not succeed in revitalizing the MARK XLII" JARVIS soothing voice sounds over the phone

“Excuse me, what’s questionable about electricity? All right? It’s my suit, and I can’t... I’m gonna... I don’t wanna....” Tasha feels as if the air is getting out of her lungs but not comming in, her palms are sweaty and she has to open the car door to sit on the ground, because it’s not posible, without her suit... without it she just can’t, she can’t and... and..

“Tasha? Are you having another attack? I didn’t even mentioned the N word”

“Right, yet, I have that on my head now” she puts her face on her knees and tries to breath, her thoughts revolve on the same thing ‘ _without the suit I can’t survive space, without the suit I can’t survive space, without the suit..._ ’ “Oh my god... what am I going to do?”

“Just breathe, really, just take slow and deep breaths, you’re a mechanic right? You fix things right? You said so”

“Yeah... I did... I did say that”

“Then why don’t you just build something?” that simple answer makes a lot more sense than anything else really, because yes, she may just be a tiny woman in a can but she is Natasha Antonia Stark, she built MARK I in a cave, she can do it, she can do it everything and all her mind focus on that fact, clearing every despair thought of her head

“Okay” she simply replies “Thanks Harley, you are the best little brother ever”

“You mean asssitant?” she smirks feeling like herself again

“Yeah that as well”

Her next stop is a huge work store, where she buys at least three carts in supplies, she has her long wavy hair down covered by a baseball cap and her eyes behind sunglasses, fortunately for her the clerk looks so tired that he doesn’t even look at her. She rents a cheap motel room and takes the matter in her own hands by building different kinds of weapons, tasers, and electric gloves, she did say that she and not Iron Man was going to get The Mandarin after all  
The sun starts raising by the time she’s done; she is on her way to the terrorist location when her, recently bought, phone rings, she looks at it curiously, there’s only one person she knows capable of tracking her that fast

“Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout” she sings

“I was expecting to surprise you” Nat’s voice sounds pouty “Hey, we have a situation here”

“What kind of situation?”

“We can’t find Steve” Tasha almost crashes the car, but she manages to control it at the last second

“What you mean you can’t find Steve?”

“Well, he took your friend Maya Hansen to her hotel and stayed with her until you decided to return, but then his tracking device got broken and we lost his signal, we went to the hotel but there was no one there except for a waiter, casualty. We found a seringe with a liquid that Bruce is already analysing and Steve’s shield” Tasha grips the wheel, hard “Coulson told us to no to tell you since you were already busy, but all things consider I decided that talking to you is the best choice”

“All things consider?” she raises an eyebrow even if she knows that the spy can’t see her

“You aren’t fooling anyone Stark, also, there’s a 100% of probability that that Maya friend of yours is involved, either as a victim, a hostage or willingly, and if you are going to do stupid things, you should do stupid things with all the possible intel”

“Thanks, Nat” she thinks for about a second before saying “Hey, do you and birdbrain want to join the party? I’m going to Mandarin location, in Florida, send you the coords and catch me there?”

“Clint is going to be so happy you let him play with other children” both deadly women snickers “Will be there, stay safe котенок”

"Me? always my fair widow" Tasha smirks in a predatory way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took certain liberties with our dear Captain, he'll be back I promise


	10. The truth behind the terrorist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Tasha "I can't roll my eyes harder" Stark, has to learn to not judge a book by its cover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter to celebrate my almost end of semester   
> j-just... one more week x__x *dies*

Soon Tasha arrives at a mansion full of security, she quickly creates a plan, runs, jumps the wall and then she is in. She creeps quietly behind the stairs to hit a man in his neck, making him fall on his face, she then takes a little hand-made gun and shoots to a man on his side so she can knock him, the man that comes to her is tased by her own invention, she throws a christmas-bomb to two guards and shoot the one standing, she gets to enter the house that looks just as trashed as one of her home vacation in a party when she was 16, full of drunk women, bottles and more than two types of posible drugs laying around, not much like the typical terrorist hide-out, she comes close to a guard that’s talking to one of the girls and electrocutes him with her glove, she takes the gun in the table, the girl on the couch is so high or drunk that she only makes a mimic gunshot as Tasha makes a quiet motion, she enters a room with a lot of monitors and cameras, at the end of the room there’s a bed with two surprised girls on it, they hear a toilet flushing and Tasha hides behind a wall, a man’s voice with english accent rings in the room

“Now, which one of you is Vanessa?” one of the girls answers him “Ah... Nessie... did you know that fortune cookies aren’t even Chinese?” the phrase sounds familiar to the genius so she pokes her head behind the bed, the girl named Vanessa tries to tell him that she is back there but to no avail “They’re made by Americans, based on a Japanese recipe” Natasha has enough of it and charge with her gun pointed to the man that looks like the Mandarin but it can't be him

“Don’t move!” she warns

“Bloody hell, bloody hell, look, I’m not moving, you want something? Take it... but I can assure you, that all the guns are fake, cause those wankers wouldn’t trust me with the real ones”

“What?” Tasha incredulously ask

“Hey, do you fancy either of the birds?”

"Fuck it! I heard enough, you’re not him, The Mandarin, the real guy, where is he?” the man runs to a couch and sits there

“Whoa whoa whoa, he’s here... he’s here, but he’s not here, he’s here, but he’s not here, you know what I mean?... I....It’s complicated... okay? It’s complicated”

“Well, uncomplicate it! Ladies, out of the bed and into the bathroom, come on” both women do as told by the young and armed CEO, at the vision of the man trying to escape, she makes a warning gunshot to the floor, the man stands and she looks at him expectantly “Well?”

“My name is Trevor, Trevor Slattery”

“So what? Are you a decoy? A double? There’s gotta be a booby trap right?”

“What? Do you mean like an understudy? No! Absolutely not!” she points the gun at the man “Don’t hurt the face! I’m an actor” she blinks once and then twice because she must have misheard... right? She loads the gun

“You got a minute to live, fill it with words”

“It’s just a role, ‘The Mandarin’ you see? It’s not real, I’m here because I had a little problem with, um, substances, and I ended up doing things, no two ways about it in the street, that a man shouldn’t do... then they approached me about the role, and they knew about the drugs, they said they’d give me more and they did! They gave me things, they gave me this place, they gave me plastic surgery, they gave me things...” the man doze off and Tasha rolls her eyes, out of everything she had thought about the terrorist, this is the last she expects, she kicks his feet “And the thing was, he needed someone to take credit for some accidental explosions” she grits her teeth

“Let me guess... Killian?”

“Yes! That’s the name of the guy, he created me” Tasha can feel a headache coming her way “His think tank thinked it up! The pathology of a serial killer, the manipulation of Western iconography” in a second the man loses his accent “Ready for another lesson? Blah blah blah” she supress a shiver “Of course, it was my performance that brought the Mandarin to life”

“Wait... your performance? Where people died?”

“No, they didn’t, look around you, the costumes, green screen... honestly, I wasn’t on location for half this stuff, and when I was, it was movie magic, love”

“Yeah? Well I’m sorry, but I got a best friend who’s in a coma and he might not wake up and another best friend who’s missing so you’re gonna have to answer for that, you’re still going down pal” she doesn’t notice the man coming at her, she just feels the hard hit in the back of her head and everything goes dark

~ 

When she comes back, she is tied to what at some point was a bed, her hands are on each side of her head and the world spins a little before focusing on one known person

“Maya” she whispers blinking more than once, the scientist is on a chair in front of a computer and surrounded by plants, she turns to see her prisoner

“It’s just like old times huh?” Tasha snorts

“Oh yeah, with zip ties, it’s a ball” Maya returns her eyes to the monitor 

“Trust me when I say... it wasn’t my idea”  

“So... you took Killian’s card, yeah, I think I can remember that... If I squint very hard”

“I also took his money” she writes something in a notebook next to her 

“And here we are, 7 years later in a dungeon” Maya shakes her head and spin on her chair to give the genius her full attention 

“No, you are in a dungeon, I’m free to go whenever I want” Tasha raises an eyebrow her ‘ _really?_ ’ expression showing, the woman sighs, stands and walks to her “Look, a lot has happened Tash, but I’m close... EXTREMIS is practically stabilized just...”

“Yeah, well I’m telling you it isn’t, I’ve seen it on the street okay? People are going bang, they’re painting the walls, Maya... you’re kidding yourself” the scientist shows her an old card with the inscription ‘you know who I am’

“Then help me fix it” she turns the card around and shows her a bunch of formulas with her writing

“I.... did I do that?” Maya looks at her, ‘ _are you kidding me right now_ ’ her eyes say “Hey, I remember the night, not the morning”

“You don’t remember?” she seems hurt

“I can’t help you, you know? You used to have a moral psychology, you used to have ideals, you wanted to help people and now look at you. You sold yourself. You are making people walking bombs... I mean... what happened to you, Maya?” Tasha shakes her head, she knows what is like to afront the reality of your creations, to see first hand the impact and damage one can cause without even noticing it, she doesn’t want anyone to be like that, she doesn’t want anyone to walk the same path as her “Common, lets make things right, get me out of here” Tasha thinks Maya’s about to reason when a male voice sound at the entrance

“You know what my old man used to say to me? One of his favorite of many sayings... the early bird gets the worm... but the second mouse gets the cheese” he gets close to her and lightly caress her cheek with the back of his finger, Tasha subtly moves her head out of the way

“Look... about what happened... I’m sorry okay? I was a kid, I was drunk, and look... as a personal favor, you should be grateful nothing happened cause I was kind of illegal back then, so hey! No hard feelings right?”

“No hard feelings at all sweetheart, in fact... all of this is to thank you, you gave me the greatest gift that anybody’s ever given me... desperation and a sense of purpose... Because, how else would I prove to you... to myself, that I’m better than all those clowns you screw around with?” Tasha rolls her eyes inwardly, so he is one of those persons ‘ _my god, why do I always attract the weirdos?_ ’ “You know? For the first 30 minutes I actually thought you’d show up, and the next hour... I considered taking that one-step shortcut to the lobby 'cause you had mock me... I was such a little thing that the great and spoiled Natasha Stark had mocked me, it was ridiculous at best and humiliating at worst... but as I looked out over that city, nobody knew I was there, nobody could see me, no one was even looking, and that gave me a thought that would guide me for years to come... Anonymity Tash, thanks to you and your pretty eyes, it’s been my mantra ever since, you simply rule from behind the scenes, because the second you give evil a face, a Bin Laden, a Gaddafi, a Mandarin, you hand the people a target... you have met him I assume”

“Oh, you mean Sir Laurence Oblivier? Yeah, quite a contrast actually, just the perfect individual for you to manipulate as much as you want” she deadpans

“Manipulative? Me? Please Tash, how can I be manipulative? I certainly lack those features, obviously, I don’t have those gorgeous lashes you possess” the girl huffs, it’s not the first time someone calls her a manipulative slut, but honestly? she always does her best to at least earn those insults, not just because she stood someone up “But yes, I know he can be over the top sometimes, he is... well, he is a stage actor, they say his Lear was the toast of Croydon whatever that is, but the point here is that ever since that big dude with the hammer....”

“Thor” she replies in automatic, he makes a whatever motion and continues

“Yeah, yeah, him, ever since he fell out of the sky, subtlety has kind of had its day, you know what I mean?”

Tasha smiles “This is probably the time when you tell me what’s next for you in your world and I do as if I’m listening while I’m planning my escape” she interrupts charmingly, Maya contains a snicker at her simplicity

“Well, even with your genius, I can’t see how would you escape from here, but hey nobody ever accused me of not being grateful, so I want to repay you with the same gift of despair that you so graciously imparted to me” she groans

“I was drunk and a teenager! Get over it” she rolls her eyes, honestly all this situation is being ridiculous

“I got over it... just as I hope you’ll get over this” he rolls three orbs and starts them, immediately the worst happens: an image appears... of Steve stranded on a bed with tubes coming of him “Now this is live, I’m not sure if you can tell, but at this moment, we are sucking the super-serum out of the super soldier... perhaps even if you don’t agreee to work with us, you Dad’s serum might be helpful in stabilizing EXTREMIS... you know how the human body has an amount of blood important to the body? Well, even if the process is slow, so we have the chance to take the serum components apart, if he stops having blood on his veins... well I don’t really think even the super body would stand that, but until that point, it’s really just a lot of pain” Tasha fights with her cuffs

“Leave him alone” she sisses

“Oh honey... trust me, I will after he had given us what we want, then, we will leave his corpse alone, and you know what? We haven’t even talked about salary yet, say... what kind of perk package are you thinking of?” Aldrich takes out an orange syringe and puts it on Tasha’s neck, she looks at him defiantly “Now... while we wait... how about we test the last updated version of EXTREMIS?” he is about to inject her, she can feel the point of the needle pushing her neck when Maya intervenes

“Let her go” Killian sighs

“Hold on sweetheart” Tasha glares at him they both turn to see the scientist who has a weapon to her neck “Maya...”

“I said, let her go”

“What are you doing?”

“1200 CCs, a dose half of this size, I’m dead” Killian turns to Tasha slightly 

“It’s time like this my temper is tested somewhat, Maya give me the injector”

“If I die, Killian, what happens to your hundreds of soldiers?” Tasha has to repress a shudder... she said hundreds right? “What happens to your product? What happens to you? What happens if you go too hot?” Killian stops and he sethes, his look is raged and he makes the point to look dead in the eye at Tasha and kill Maya with a gunshot. Stark inhales sharply 

“The good news is, honey... a high-level position has just been vacated”

“You are a maniac” Tasha whispers trying to get rid of the shock

“You are wrong Tash, I’m a visionary, but I do own a maniac and he takes the stage tonight” he gets close to her again and touches her face, the CEO doesn’t flinch by pure force of will “I’d love to continue with our business, but I have some important things to do, you know? As an act of goodwill I’ll let you model and construct your own EXTREMIS, how about that? Sounds good, right? see you later love” Killian says as he finally leaves   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all of you thank you so much, your comments are my inspiration, thank you, everyone, for your kind words, you really help me through this hard time of mine, I love you <3 
> 
> I hope you have a great day/night and week in general   
> \o/ --> sends virtual hugs


	11. Plan A to Z

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Please tell me you have a plan"  
> "I do... but I don't think you'd like it"  
> 3 doritos later...  
> "You are right... I don't like it"
> 
> Tasha and Rhodey at some point in their lives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm... FREE!!! bye college I'll see you in a month and a half! :D *cries in spanish*

A little while after Killian leaves, Tasha is contemplating all the possible, and maybe the impossible as well, ways to get to Steve when the watch Harley gave her beeps, indicating that it's time to start her escape plan. One of the guards takes it and shakes it, trying to quiet the noice 

“Hey, watch it, it’s a limited edition” she warns him before turning to the other guy “Hey, ponytail express, what’s the mileage count between Tennessee and Miami?”

“832 miles” He answers, Tasha smiles, the guy looks at his friend “I’m good like that” the beeping continues “Can you, uh, stop that?”

“Don’t even think about it” Tasha gently advise the man but he just smirks and stomps on the cute little watch “Hey! That’s rude! It wasn’t mine to give away” she scolds, her armor must be arriving any minute now and, if the shadow that passed in front of the window 5 minutes ago is any indication, her back up just arrived “It was of my little brother’s sister, and that’s why I’m gonna have to kill you first”

“And how exactly are you planning to do that? You are a little, insignificant girl who is zip-tied to a bed and with no way to call Iron Man” one of the men mocks, Tasha just grins knowingly 

“Like... this!” she opens her palms but nothing happens, she does it again and still nothing “Aw come on! I swear you are going to be in a puddle of your own blood on the ground in five, four, three...”

“How did we ended up with this shift?” Ponytail express asks his partner

“All right, I’m gonna give you a chance to escape, put down your weapons, tie yourselves, I’ll let you live... in five... four... bang! There! You should be gone by now”

“Wow... I’m... terrified” the other guy deadpans

“In five, four, three, two, one!” finally, the gauntlet enters through the window and accommodates itself in her hand, she fires the repulsor to one of the guards “Told ya” she snaps the straps and starts fighting as the part of her legs and her arm arrives “Hey... where’s the rest?” more men appear on the hallway and Tasha repulse herself in the air with one boot and one gauntlet just like old times, and starts shooting to them alternating the machine gun with her beams, she kicks all the guards’ asses in the most badass Natasha Stark way. She turns and aims at the last man standing, making him toss his weapon in fear and awe

“Honestly, I hate working here, they are so weird” he says before running, Tasha walks to the exit when the last of her armor joins her

“Ah! Better late than never, it’s good to be back, hello by the way”

“Oh hello Miss” JARVIS answers, she notices a man that creeps behind her, but she doesn’t move since the shadow from before kicks him to the ground

“You are late” she tells her friend and co-avenger

“It’s Clint’s fault” Nat deadpans   

“It’s not!” he exclaims jumping from the roof

“Just you two?” Tasha asks, even if it's not unusual for both of them to team up against the world, the genius expected more baby SHIELD agents doing the dirty work

“There are some agents and Coulson wrapping up inside the mansion” Nat explains

“Well, my repulsors aren't working correctly so I’ll have to walk to him, we have to find Steve, quickly” Tasha explains the situation briefly before closing the faceplate again and start running a bit off due to the armor with both Widow and Hawkeye taking care of the remaining guards; her phone rings and she answers from inside the suit

“Tasha!”

“Rhodey, babe! Tell me that was you in the iron patriot suit I just saw flying”

“Unfortunately no, please tell me you still got yours” he sounds a bit breathless 

“Barely, we are going to the main house, catch us as fast as you can! You are not going to believe this”

 ~

By the time Rhodey, Tasha, Nat, and Clint arrive, Coulson has all the guards contained plus an almost drunk, and most likely drugged, Trevor ‘The Mandarin’ in custody. As soon as everyone is there, the interrogation begins  

“I just want to say, I never thought people had been hurt, they lied to me, I was used” he says blinking several times

“This is the Mandarin?” Clint asks incredulously, Rhodey has a face that Tasha can’t stop snickering at

“Yeah... yeah, I know it’s embarrassing really” she mutters 

“Hi, everyone, my name is Trevor, Trevor Slattery, I know I’m shorter in person, a bit smaller, everyone says that, but, um, hey, if you’re here to arrest me, there are some people I’d like to roll on”

“Look, Mr. Slattery, here’s how it works, you tell us where Captain America is and we can get to some agreement” Coulson says with his ‘ _I don’t take any bullshit_ ’ trademark smile

“Okay, okay, look, I don’t know anything about Captain America, but I do know about the plan”

“Spill it out, do you know what they did to my suit?” Rhodey asks pointing a gun to his head just for precaution

“What? No, but I do know it’s happening off the coast, something to do with a big boat... I can take you there... oh! And this next bit may include the vice president as well... Is that important?”

“Somewhat” Tasha concedes

“Yeah, a little bit” Rhodey still looks in shock, like he can't believe he spent the last few months looking out for _this_ guy

Tasha gathers with the Avengers and Coulson as some agents check on the fake Mandarin

“So? What are we going to do? Every second we take is less blood to spangles” she summarizes 

“Clint and I can look for the boat he talks about, we can take the jet” Nat says feeling the urge in her namesake's voice

“I’ll take him and go with the vice-president to keep him safe. Director Fury has to take other matters at hand so he left us to solve this, Tasha, you and Colonel Rhodes see to the Iron Patriot armor, anything they do it has to be related with the president” she pouts, she really wants to find Steve at once and to know that he is fine, but the rules are clear, they both agreed to them after all... civilians and victims first

“Fine, but we don’t have a transport and I doubt that-” she interrupts herself and looks back at the actor “Hey Ringo! Didn’t you say something about a lovely speedboat?”

 ~

“If he is right about the location we’re 20 minutes from where Steve is” Tasha says like she is putting everything in herself to not go looking for the dear Captain by herself.... which, probably is what she's doing

“I know, but remember the plan princess, we also have to figure out this president, vice-president thing right?” Rhodey urges her, she turns to him as if acknowledging his presence for the first time

“Right” she whispers, she takes out her cell phone and sees a message from ‘almost uncle’ Coulson “Oh look, apparently the President is safe on the air force along with Colonel Rhodes... huh... curious... I thought Rhodes was next to me... Ah! You are here! it must be your long lost twin!” Rhodey looks at her unamused by her antics 

“Well, I guess that leaves with a decision to make, we can either save the president or Steve, we can't do both”

“So glad to know you trust my fellow spies” she deadpans

“I’m talking about a hypothetical situation here”

“In that case, we obviously have to save the Super Soldier” Rhodey _looks_ at her “What? Oh come on Rhodey, there have been a lot of presidents and there’re more to come... but there’s only one super soldier that can save us from aliens in sexy spandex” she all but whines 

“Yeah, sure, there’s also only one Steve right?”

“Miss, I have an update from Malibu” Tasha ignores Rhodey’s comment in favor of listening to her favorite son “The cranes have finally arrived and the cellar doors are being cleared as we speak”

“Nice... but wait, what about the suit I’m wearing?”

“The armor is now at 92%” she unplugs herself from where she was charging her armor 

“This is better than any right?” there’s a beeping “Well... now the air force has been compromised, and I’m not moving any mile away from Spangles so... I guess it’s time for plan B”

“And here I thought we were plan B and the spies were plan A”

Tasha smirks, ' _Of course she was going to change the whole damn plan_ ' Rhodey thinks rolling his eyes 

 ~

Up in the air, the Mark XLII opens an entry in the plane and proceeds to crash the glowing man to one of the airplane walls 

“Where’s the President?” Tasha’s modulated voice sounds through the speakers

“He’s not here” he answers, he burns the armor with his hand “Ever tried the jet stream? Speaking of which, go fish” a bomb sounds in the back of the plane and screams follows, to release herself she burns him with one of her beams, she then flies to the back and opens the door just in time to see the last survivor flying through the hole in the aircraft’s wall, she flies right behind her

“Nat! Clint! Blow it!”

“Copy that Tash”

“As you wish kid”

Both spies are flying a Hunter jet, each one, and send short distance missiles to blow the bastard up

“JARVIS! How many in the air?”

“Thirteen, miss”

“And how many can I carry?”

“Four, miss”

“Well thats going to be a problem” she flies and grabs the first person “Relax, I’m going to save you... what’s your name?" she looks at her tag "Heather? Hey, listen to me, see that guy? I’m gonna swing by and you’re just gonna grab him, you got it?” the woman can barely answer when Tasha flies down again, the woman screams “Relax, I’m going to electrify your arm, you won't be able to open your hand, ready? Let's do this, Heather” she manages to grab the other man after two tries “Easy, right? Eleven more to go” she hovers to the next one “Remember that game called barrel of monkeys? Well that’s we’re going to do”

“18,000 feet miss” JARVIS warns

“Come on people, we don’t have all day! Everybody grab your monkey!” she orders, they start doing it, soon she is holding seven people in one hand

“10,000 feet” she calculates the distance between the others and grabs them “6,000 feet”

“Come on people” she urges

“1,000 feet” she only misses one, she flies as fast as she can to him “400 feet, 200 feet, miss”

“He’s a chunky monkey, let’s get him” she flies close enough that one man can grab him, then she makes her best to decrease the speed as she lets them fall to the sea, all the passengers cheer “Nice work guys!, excellent, good team effort all around, yeah... go us!” she cheers as well “Now... lets go get Steve-” her armor gets hit by a truck and the parts separate “Fuck... that came out of nowhere” she takes her Artificial reality helmet

“Well?” Rhodey asks

“I think they all made it” she sounds satisfied

“Oh thank god”

“Yeah... the bad news is that I missed the president... and the good news is that Nat and Clint blow the airplane up”

“Wait wait, hang on a second, how’s that supposed to be a good news?”

“Well. One of the bad guys was inside” she shrugs as if she didn’t just destroyed millions of dollars invested in the President’s Air Force

“I really hope you have a better plan to save Steve at this rate”

“As a matter of fact... I do, thank you very much” she turns to her son again “Say... JARVIS, is it that time?”

“The house party protocol, miss?”

“Correct” she says and then speaks to the comms “Hey Widow”

“Stark” she greets “So what’s the plan?”

“Go get Banner, I’ll go first, let’s kick their asses pure Avenger's style, shall we?”

“I call dibs on telling Thor how he missed the party” Clints adds excited, both women just rolls their eyes

Tasha grins... if Aldrich thinks he can take away the person she cares deeply for that easily, he is wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I took my sweet time updating this, don't ask me why but ao3 kept crashing on me Dx   
> hope you like it, kudos and comments are deeply appreciated


	12. Operation: Rescue!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tasha is the knight in shining armor... and Steve is the damsel in distress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say... Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments, you really make my day a hundred times better nun

Steve opens his eyes, he feels weak, a light hurts him, makes his head cry in protest. He notices that he is stranded to a bed with tubes getting out of him, those tubes carry his blood... that explains the dizziness, he sees the man from before... Killian was it?

“Hi, nice to meet you Captain America" he gets closer with his hands on his back "You know? For the guy Tasha is infatuated with, I was expecting something... better” he says and Steve remembers, Tasha! He and Maya were after her

“What... what do you want with her?” he slurs, his head is spinning, he doesn’t know how long he has been there “She... she won’t help you”

“Slow down the suction will you?” he asks his scientists “I want him alive for a round of experiments” Alrich then turns to Cap “Look... Tasha is not... she...” he looks down as if he has a hard time choosing the words “She is special alright? And you know that better than anybody... and you should be proud because after the experiments we are going to perform on you... that serum, that perfected EXTREMIS? She is going to have it”

“You... you want to make her your trophy” Steve spits the words with weak anger, the man only smiles. At that moment the Iron Patriot armor comes into the room, Killian completely ignores him in favor of turning to the newcomer 

“Oh, evening sir, nice to see the man of the hour in time for the show” the armor retreats showing the president “Welcome aboard, have you ever hear about an elephant graveyard? Well, two years ago, the elephant in the room was this scow” Killian shows him the footage of the ship

“This is the Roxxon Norco” The President whispers in shock

“And of course you’ll remember that when she spilled a million gallons of crude off Pensacola, thanks to you, not one fat cat saw a day in court”

“What do you want from me?”

“Um... nothing actually sir... I just needed a reason to kill you that would play well on TV, you see, I’ve moved on, I found myself a new political patron... and by this time tomorrow, he’ll have your job” Killian looks at one of his henchmen “String him up”

Steve closes his eyes, the light is too bright and the dizziness is filling everything, just one thought stops him from letting him fall into darkness... Tasha... he can’t let him have her... he has to get out of there

~ 

Natasha Stark and Rhodey are hiding in the dark, walking quickly but being stealthy. Clint went to get Bruce and Nat Romanov is on the other side of the boat looking for clues on Steve location, Tasha looks completely focused... too much for Rhodey's comfort 

“Come on now princess, you are not going to freak out on me right?” Tasha rolls her eyes

“I surely hope not” she deadpans and Rhodes snorts, that’s just like her

They both run towards the ship where there’s like three dozens of oil containers, there are people all over the place, and now the ‘hundred’s that Maya said make so much sense. High in the sky, tied up like a piñata is the iron patriot armor, with the president inside

“Oh my god” Rhodey whispers, he turns to Tasha “He’s strung up over the oil tanker... they’re gonna light him up, Jesus”

“A Viking funeral huh? Dead by oil, public execution, it has to look like the motives are political” her eyes wander all over the place, making deductions and calculations 

“They aren’t?”

“No... Killian only wants to start a war, I bet he doesn’t even care” she has a displease look on her face “I mean, is it too much to ask for a villain with actual good motives?” Rhodey smiles at her and her easy going attitude

“Well... I guess you can scold him when we see him”

They move again and quickly run up the stairs as someone announce that the broadcast will start shortly, they end up in a platform when Nat’s voice sounds on the comms

“Tash you copy me?”

“Loud and clear my dear spider”

“I’m in a control room, I can see Steve from here, he looks weak, but at least he is awake, you are closer to him, I’ll try to see what can I do to block Killian’s transmission” Tasha makes an affirmative hum

“Hey, Is your gun up?” from his position, Rhodey can see a lot of soldiers

“Yep, what do I do?”

“Stay on my six, cover high and don’t shoot me in the back”

“Six, high, back, all right” at that moment the shooting begins, a couple of bullets ricochet in the metal behind her and she and Rhodey take cover, luckily for them, those aren't the orange soldiers, just some guards. Tasha shoots three or four times before she takes cover next to Rhodes “See that? Nailed it”

“Yeah, you really killed the glass” how Rhodey didn’t drown in his own sarcasm is something Tasha would never know

“You think I was aiming for the bulb? Come on, you can’t hit a bulb at this distance” she says, Rhodey stands up only to shoot the lamp and shatter it, he sends her a look ”Show off” she mutters. A voice on the speaker alerts everyone about them “Ok, here’s what I’m going to do, save my spot, ready?” she says before standing to take a look and sits down immediately

“What’d you see?”

“Too fast... nothing” she stands again but this time only letting her eyes peek, there are at least a dozen soldiers who, Tasha can bet, are EXTREMIS’ users, also a lot of guards “Orange glowing soldiers, and armed guards, I don’t doubt there’re more of those human walking bombs based on what Maya said” Rhodey and Tasha stand, they are surrounded

“God I would kill for some armor right now” Rhodey whines 

“Yeah... you know what we need?”

“A bunch of back-ups?”

“A Hulk” at that moment an arrow pierce the chest of one of the guards and the others start shooting to where the weapon came from, a roar is heard afterward, and the Hulk starts smashing, a bunch of soldiers starts glowing and at least two or three attacks him.

The fight starts, Clint shoots arrow after arrow and Tasha and Rhodey shoot until they are out of ammo, more AIM fighters come from the inside of the ship

“This isn’t working Toni!” Rhody screams as he tries to beat a woman that almost burns his hands

“Is good that I had a plan B”

“I thought they were your plan B” Tasha ends next to her friend after helping him get rid of the woman and tips her head to the horizon, Rhodey look in that direction and his eyes go wide

“Is that-?”

“Yep”

“A-are those-?”

“Yep” she says before kicking a guy in the face. The Avengers also look in awe at the show, all the armors Tasha has created are flying at impressive speed, all the Iron Man suits form a line in front of everyone making a magnificent circle in the sky. Tasha talks into the comms “Merry Christmas everyone”

“Holy damn Stark” Clint whispers

“Language” Nat snickers, even she is impressed

Tasha talks into her personal connection with her favorite son “JARVIS, target EXTREMIS heat signatures and disable with extreme prejudice”

“Yes Miss” J’s voice can be heard from all the armors

“What are we waiting for kids? Let's kick some butts” she says while extending her arms in a Tasha dramatic way™ “Take them to church” the armors start fighting in all the ways they were designed to do. Clint uses explosive arrows, Nat shoots a bazooka she got out of who knows where and the Hulk... the Hulk smashes and throws EXTREMIS soldiers to the sea. At some point, one of the pillars holding the platform they are in is destroyed and Tasha calls JARVIS to send one of her armors to stabilize it

“So this is how you’ve been managing your downtime huh?” Rhodey says as he continues fighting against the ex-military soldiers

“What can I say platypus? Everybody needs a hobby” she dodges a hit and kicks her adversary down the platform, yeah, Clint’s classes paid off. There are armors flying everywhere, but also more guards and AIM people arriving at the battlefield, she looks over the rail and talks to her babies “Heartbreaker, help you little sister Red snapper out will you?” the armor shoots at the soldiers who are destroying the other robot, but one of them strongly takes off the helmet making it crash in a container full of oil barrels... the explosion is big and it affects one part of the labs... the part where Steve is

 ~

Steve gets thrown across the room and ends trapped below a pile of debris, well, at least the tubes are no longer connected to his body... and whatever the scientist injected him with apparently make the serum stronger, because the wounds don’t take longer in start closing, not immediately but is a shorter amount of time than he is used to, he takes deep breaths before trying to take the metal off him

~ 

An armor stops next to Tasha and she enters it

“Nice timing” she says

“Oh yeah, that’s awesome, give me a suit, okay?” Rhodey opens his arms waiting for the armor to come, Tasha mockingly pouts

“Oh, I’m sorry honeybear, they’re only coded to me, maybe next time yeah? But don’t worry, I got you cover” Tasha goes flying after that, she has to find Steve “Talk to me Widow, where’s Cap?”

“According to the footage I saw...” she takes a pause when she tackles a soldier and tosses him to the sea “He is where the barrels exploded, that’s the lab” Tasha inhales sharply and puts everything in the thrusters, as she goes, the battle keeps on going, both armors and avengers kick orange soldiers. She soon enters the ruins of the lab and sees the blond bump on the ground covered on debris, she tries to take them but Steve’s strained voice stops her

“Wait wait wait, don’t move it, the ceiling is being held by this” she opens her faceplate and sees him dead in the eye

“See what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends?”

“Come on, don’t be like that Tash”

“Screw you spangles, I was worried sick, you owe me a dinner” is it weird that Steve’s heart flutters in that same moment despite everything?

“Excuse me, YOU were worried sick? Who was the one that fell down a fuckin-”

“Language Cap!” Tasha laughs, more from relief than actual fun, she extends her hand to him “Take my hand Spangles, lets get out of here” Steve wiggles from underneath the debris and almost touches her when an orange hand comes from under a rock and grabs Tasha’s mechanical arm, she hisses as it burns her, the hand throws her, the floor melts and Killian climbs up

“Hey! Come here often?” he asks to Tasha in a mocking way, he steps on top of her, her armor grunts in protest “No, no, no, don’t get up sweetheart” he turns the heat up on one of his fingers and touches her chest plate “Is it me or is getting hot in here?”

“Tasha...” Steve makes an effort and he moves some of the cement, Killian takes one piece of iron from the ground and points to his head

“Now close your eyes sweety, you don’t wanna see this” he says to Tasha “Close your eyes honey” he prepares to shoot when Tasha activates a secret weapon on her armor and cuts his arm off, he is shocked so it's easy for her to just toss him aside

“Tasha!”

“Steve, I’m fine, the suit is a bit burnt but I’m fine, I’m fine I just...” she steps out of the armor gently, she doesn’t know if Killian did it on purpose but he did put that much heat to burn some circuits “See? I’m in one piece, all go-” that moment Killian’s cut arm melts the floor and Tasha falls down to the lower level on top of a cargo machine, she screams in pain when a broken pipe pierce her leg

“Natasha!” Steve yells, he makes another effort to move the tubes without engaging the building, and finally he gets free “I’m coming to get you!”

Outside, the Hulk throws two AIM guards off the bridge he is in and one of them falls and starts a mechanism that moves the cargo machine with Tash on top of it

“Oh god! Steve!” she screams, hisses because damn her leg hurts “A little help here!”

The Captain follows the trail, jumping over two bridges, he has to shake his head and stabilize himself when he gets to the other side cause he still feels a little bit dizzy, a soldier is going to attack him when an arrow goes through his skull, Hawkeye looks panicked for a minute but then his attention get held up by another AIM guard, they are endless, and with the ones barely injured healing by the minute, the fight is getting harder and harder. Steve sees over the bridge that Tasha is headed to a dangerous stop

“JARVIS! Send an suit to Tasha NOW!” Clint shouts over the comms, he has visual of the situation

Steve jumps another rail and almost falls, he really lost a lot of blood, but to him, that’s not important, an armor gets close to the genius and she tries to reach it but a soldier interferes and drags it down and out of her reach

~ 

On the other side of the ship, Rhodey and Nat are shooting soldiers while trying to save the president, they are surrounded because no matter how many times they shoot the EXTREMIS military, the bullets holes heal immediately

“We need another strategy” Widow whispers as their foes prepare to attack

“I gotta an idea... hold on tight” is all Rhodey’s warning before shooting at the cable that kept the container steady

Both the spy and the coronel hold onto one of the borders and jump when it swings next to the President before plunge and create a fire sea, with Nat on one side and Rhodey on the other he cut the cable holding the President and they swing and fall into a bridge, Nat shoots the last cable and the President falls in front of them

“You look damn good, Mr. President, but I’m gonna need that suit back” Rhodey tells him

~ 

Steve runs as fast as he can and he makes an impressive jump from one side of the bridge to the center of the ship, he climbs to the platform just in time when the cargo stops, barely a few meters away, the platform creaks but Steve pays no mind to it, he climbs to the rail, Tasha streches as much as she can

“It’s okay Tash, I got you, I got you” a tear from pain because her legs are suffering, escapes from her eye

“I know, winghead... you always got my back” she grunts in pain, because the machine is stuck but keeps moving, and it hurts. The tube that’s trapping her gets loose and falls

“I got you! Tash! I got you!, let you go, I’ll catch you” she nods, but the machine moves one more time and both its load and the rail where Steve is, falls down, both of them fall to the sea of fire, in mid-air, however, Tasha sees a familiar looking armor coming to her

_'Holy damn, the prodigal son returns_ ’ her mind provides as she makes the same motion she made in the mansion ‘ _ **protect Steve**_ ’. The MARK XVII tackles Steve to safety in a lower bridge below and he is hopeless seeing Natasha Stark fall to her doom for the second time.


	13. Final Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If there's one thing everyone should know about Natasha Stark... is that she always raises from the fire...
> 
> Steve wishes she didn't take that quite literally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from the dead :v (and this time I'm talking about me xD)  
> I wanted to make a special shout out to everyone who comments the series (especially to ameve2, I love you <3 and HinaLuvLuvChan, thank you!!!)

Steve can’t take his eyes off from the point where Tasha vanished, is full of flames and even though his rational part screams at him, his entire being refuses to believe it. There is no way Natasha Stark could’ve survive this 

He can hear someone climbing the stairs to where he is, he stands up and looks, at the end of the bridge is Killian

“A shame, what a pity that even with the super serum you are so proud of you couldn’t even reach her, haven’t this happen before?” Steve glares, his feelings are numb because of the shock, but that doesn’t mean he can’t understand him “Oh yeah, I’ve read all about you, the serum, Erskine, I might not look like it but I also quite enjoy science you know? Ah, the train as well... you don’t really learn from your mistakes do you?” if looks could kill, Aldrich would have been already dead “I would’ve caught her, which only proves... you didn’t deserve her... as you don’t deserve that serum” Steve clenches his fist, what’s left of his blood seems to boil in anger, he runs until he meets Killian halfway and punches him on his face, who takes him by the neck, both his hand and the place where Steve hit him glowing bright orange and tosses him off the bridge, Steve hangs from the floor and impulse himself back to the rail, kicking Killian in the process. Aldrich glows again, his body reaches higher temperatures making him a target to Tasha’s suits that shoot him multiple times, simultaneously repulsing him backwards, the super soldier takes that as an advantage and kicks him again, sending him to another part of the construction, he doesn’t has his shield, but he’ll make it work, he’s still Captain America after all.

The battle keeps on going, everyone is fighting with no exception, Steve is against Killian fiercely, both serums on the test, Clint is almost out of arrows and has to engage into physical fight from time to time since the damn EXTREMIS’ users are fast and get inside his range almost every five minutes; he doesn’t have visual of any of his friends, so he just hope they are still on one piece, he knows that Nat is okay at least

“This guys are endless!” she says into the comms as she has to protect the President until the unit from SHIELD she asked for arrives

“Shoot them in the head, they are like zombies”

“Fucking hot ass zombies!” Rhodey adds repulsing another, he can’t take the President by himself, that's how critical the situation is, even the Hulk has trouble keeping up with the soldiers, his problem being the extreme temperatures they can reach, burning him greatly. Clint gets an idea and grabs an armor that’s flying near, by its feet, he climbs to it’s back with great effort and talks into the AI's comms

“JARVIS, any chance you can take me next to the container on Hulk’s side?”

“As you wish sir” the voice answers him and the iron armor takes a detour to the big green monster

“I recommend to anyone who can, to take the Hulk out of there in the next minute” he deadpans as he shoots an explosive arrow to the petrol container

“I got it” Iron Patriot answers and flies next to it to get its attention, it works, and as soon as the Hulk gets out of the range of explosion, half of the remaining troops that they were fighting are blown to smithereens

“That’s just half of the problem, we got a lot more soldiers that are healing and I don’t doubt some of them are going to blow real soon” Hawkeye warns

“You have more of those arrows?” Rhodey asks a little breathless of all the fighting

“Like five more, why?”

“I have an idea”

~ 

In one of the bridge Killian punches Cap and sends him to the other side “I was so close to making her perfect! But you and your little friends had to ruin everything!” he practically yells while walking to him

“Yeah, maybe I don’t deserve her” Steve refuses to talk about Tasha in past tense “But you are wrong, she is already perfect” he answers before tackling him and sending both of them to the abyss, in the fall, both exchange punches and a few low blows, Clint follows their trajectory perched on the Iron suit and at Rhodey’s 'NOW!' scream, he shoots his special detonator bomb at a lower point, the arrow pierce Killian’s shoulder and traps him in a container.

Steve keeps falling until the Hulk grabs him and tosses him to the ground just as the multiple bombs explode burning the other half of the regenerating soldiers. An EXTREMIS’ user jumps and destroys the suit Clint’s on, forcing him to jump off it and shoot an arrow through his skull in mid-air, he collapses hard enough to roll a few times. Nat arrives next to them and offers a hand to Steve

“You okay there Cap?” Steve takes it feeling a little bit dizzy

“Where’s the President Widow?” Rhodey asks landing near them, Clint also gets closer  

“Coulson arrived, he is taking care of the remaining soldiers on the other side of the ship along with his baby agents” she looks to all the sides “Where’s Tash?” Steve feels a pain in his chest too big to put it into words, but before anyone can answer, they hear metal bending noises, they turn around and Killian is walking through the flames, quite burned and glowing bright, hot orange, but very alive “You gotta be kidding me” Nat whispers

“No more false faces, you guys wanted the Mandarin well... you’re looking right at him” The Avengers take fight stance “It was always me... right from the start... I am the Mandarin!” he shouts before being repulsed away, the guys turn to the side and Steve’s breath stops for a moment, because there is Natasha Stark, breathing heavily with her gauntlets and iron boots on, her hair completely down, more bruises and cuts than anyone could count and a limb on one of her legs

“Tasha...” Steve calls in an incredulous whisper

But there’s no time for reunion since Killian comes back and tackles her, she lands on her back and uses the leverage to kick him to the other side with the help of her thrusters but he drags her, JARVIS capture the signature from Killian’s EXTREMIS and proceeds to shoot, but before that can happen Steve destroys the armor, one of the parts lands next to Tasha and she takes it before using one method Clint and Nat showed her to subdue an enemy, She throws Killian off her along with the device and shoots it, making an amazing explosion.

Tasha turns to her friends before she can say something though, she is hug-tackled by Steve

“Oh my god! Natasha! You just scared the life out of me!” he caresses her hair and without thinking kisses her forehead, the genius blush is going to be denied to her death and used by Clint as one of his mocking tactics till the end of their days “ I thought... I thought you were...”

“Dead? Why? Because I fell 200 feet?” she separates from him a little and looks at Steve with a love-sick expression that has him blushing as well “I told you before Spangles, didn’t I? You can’t get rid of me that easily” both smile, yet the moment is interrupted by Nat’s not really subtle cough, she shows them a phone

“It’s Coulson” she says and puts him on speaker

“The president is safe, but we got a situation here... some of the soldiers... are young, very young” everyone looks horrified by the implication those words carry “We got them in custody, they are pretty scared and it's hard to keep them in control so they don’t overheat”

“Wait... how do you know about that?” Tasha asks

“We have out methods Stark... is there anything you and doctor Banner can do?”

“We will have to do further analysis about it” Bruce says as he approaches the group, recently un-hulked

“Don’t worry Phil... we can do it” Tasha says convinced

“Are you sure?” Steve asks worriedly

“Hey, have a little faith for old little me alright? I almost had this figured it out seven years ago when I was drunk” she smugly answers “I can get them better, that’s what I do... I fix stuff”

“Yeah” Cap looks at her in awe, not quite believing that she's still alive, he takes her by the arm and pulls her to his arms, enveloping the little genius in a warm hug, he was so close to losing her twice in less than three days; Steve knows he won't be able to take his eyes off her for the next month "I know you do... just, try not to die this time" 

Tasha smiles inside Roger's arms and hugs him back, she also was really worried about him "Anything for you Spangles, anything for you"

~

"Should we tell them that we are leaving?" Clint whispers to Nat, she takes a look to the oblivious lovebirds 

"No... let the idiots have their moment" she deadpans before turning to the jet waiting for them, leaving Iron Man and Captain America to themselves 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter!!! the next one is an epilogue and also a little surprise :3  
> thank you for following the series, I have to think if I'm going to write the other movies (TWS, AoU, CW >:v, etc etc) I would love to read your thoughts about it ^^


	14. Epilogue: New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well I walked up to her and I asked her if she wanted to dance  
> She looked awful nice and so I hoped she might take a chance  
> When we danced I held her tight  
> Then I walked her home that night  
> And all the stars were shining bright  
> And then I kissed her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end, thank you everyone :3  
> 1.- To answer sassbrat1984 question, I made a timeline :3 also thank you so much for your comments <3  
> 2.- This verse exist thanks to this video  
> I'll keep thinking about doing the other movies, in case you have more suggestions ^^

[Timeline](http://astarlith.tumblr.com/post/181385264388/the-young-and-a-little-bit-broken-au-timeline)    [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viynFX7jsD8&list=LLpzLRG_j2lSPIWLig8O-eNw&index=4)

~

2015 New Year's Eve, Avenger's Tower, New York

 

"So after that, we had so much work to do that we missed Christmas" Clint explains what happened with the Mandarin to Laura who is comfortably nestled by his side 

"You mean, Stark, Banner, and Coulson had so much work they missed Christmas" Nat sees him dead in the eye, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes "I recall you dragging Rogers and myself to the nearest bar to join the festivities" Laura turns to look at her husband 

"Funny, you didn't mention that"

"That was classified" Clint practically vaporizes his fellow spy with his eyes 

"And all the information about the terrorist wasn't?" Barton makes a dismissive motion. Nat looks like she wants to say something else, but she stops when she sees the Captain approaching 

Steve is fully clothed in a classic black tuxedo complete with a bow and a little white handkerchief on his pocket, he wanted to wear a tie but Tasha... ' _No, winghead, you wore one last year, you have to wear a bow this one, I demand it_ ' and when he tried to suggest he could just put his military suit on, the genius had look at him in a way that made Steve fear for his life. His hair is brushed to the side and a brand new set of cufflinks shine on his shirt (tiny versions of his shield that Tasha gave him as a late Christmas present). Nat gives a look of appreciation, Captain America blends into the crowd very well, she'll have to congratulate Tasha for that later, not only she did a great job planning the party, but the Avenger's outfits as well

"Are we talking about our Christmas in the bar downtown?" he asks hiding a smile

"No, we aren't!" Clint whines when he hears Laura's quiet laugh "Stop bullying me, don't you have a damsel in distress that needs your help?" he practically pouts and his wife brush his arm with her hand to comfort him   

"Oh I know about a certain tech genius that could use some help to run away from some troublesome patrons" Nat adds meaningfully, the interest sparkle on Rogers' eyes doesn't escape her attention 

"Do you now?" Steve raises an eyebrow, then he frowns "I don't remember seeing her all night now that you mention it" 

"You know where she is every time she is stressed" the spy says tilting her head slightly to the bar's direction, Steve nods and with a polite motion, he walks away trying to find his best friend

He finds her right next to a stool with a drink on her hand and a group of men surrounding her, investors most likely, and Steve is caught admiring her again, a young woman succeeding in a business dominated by men is no easy task, practically impossible back in the day. She moves a little to the side and now she is full on view so the Captain can see her, his breath suddenly stops, she is gorgeous. Tasha is using a long, red dress, with a halter neck to hide the arc reactor and long length opening that shows her pretty, styled, muscular legs, her hair is tied up in a pony-tail and her back is open until her lower back, her jewelry is gold as some of the decorations on the dress, an inside joke about her being Iron Man

"Beautiful, right?" a known voice talks next to him, Bruce is wearing a more casual black suit, he is not that comfortable in this kind of parties and tends to only stay a few hours before retiring to either his lab or the hulk room, depending on how the night unfolds. Steve nods, not taking his eyes off her, the way she talks, she politely laughs and makes conversation, only enough so they decide to donate money or invest, whatever the genius' goal is "No one here could imagine her working non stop for days trying to fix EXTREMIS so the few kids that survived the fight can have a better life" there's a little of spite on Banner's voice that makes Steve turn to him

"You helped as well, both of you saved those kids" he says studying his friend's expressions

"Yeah... but who do you think gets critizied for not appearing on the Stark christmas Gala?" Steve frowns at that comment, like Avengers, they only appear enough for the media to leave them alone, Natasha Stark is not an official Avenger, the public thinks of her as their patron, they don't even _think_ she is Iron Man, so they are a lot less forgiving about her when not appearing to a special event

"What did they say?"

"I'm surprised you didn't read it, you read every newspaper" Bruce looks at him suspiciously 

"I was... busy" ' _busy trying to find the perfect gift_ ' Steve thinks but doesn't mention it 

"Yeah well... there's a reason I hate coming to these things, but she already has given us so much..." Steve nods, he knows that Bruce doesn't only refers to the material things, Tasha gave them a home "Anyway, I'm going to my floor, I have to pack to leave tomorrow early" 

"Have a safe trip Bruce"

"Thanks and Steve..." Cap looks at him "Take good care of her, I know Rhodey already gave you the shovel talk..." he groans, awkward was an understatement, but at least it had been better than Pepper's, her talk had been outright terrifying "But just for you to know... if you hurt her in any way well... the Hulk isn't going to be happy, he's quite fond of her you know? and... you really don't want to know how my type of science can affect you" Steve swallows, that last thing legitimately sends chills down his spine

"I'll... make sure she is happy in every aspect" he says looking at the scientist to the eye, he nods satisfied and walks to the elevator. When he sees that he is gone, Steve lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, everyone saw the exchange they had in the ship after the fight, and since then, everyone seemed to assume that Steve was going to make a move soon, that wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't because apparently everyone wanted to protect the little genius from ill-meaning suitors, not that he blamed, he probably would have been the same.

Surprisingly, Coulson and Fury were first, Steve had been flabbergasted; Clint and Nat only gave him a warning because they trusted that the dear Captain remembered the talk in the Quinjet when they were on their way to fight the alien invasion, Steve remembered; Rhodey was next, he talked like Tasha's old man, almost sobbing about how she had grown so fast; the last person to talk to him was Pepper, and while Steve had yet to find out how she learned about his feelings, the redhead woman put the fear of gods on him, with only a few words and a perfect press smile, he really thought for a second that his body was never going to be found.

The music snaps him from his musings, it's a slow melody that gives him the perfect excuse to do what he planned all day, he walks to the group and politely interrupts 

"Ah... Captain Rogers, fancy seeing you in a party like this" one of the men talks to him, but he takes little notice as he can see Tasha's eyes grow wide and twinkles in appreciation 

"I would never miss a party from our sponsor" he says tilting his head "I was hoping you gentlemen allow me to steal her for a minute" he presents his hand to her 

"Only if she lets you" the man jokes and everyone laughs, Steve can only smile, he won't admit it, but he is really nervous

"Why, of course, Captain, it would be an honor" the girl puts her hand on top of his "If you excuse us, gentlemen" she says as they walk away. Steve takes them to the little dance floor and puts his free arm on her back, Tasha quietly laughs "What's this about Winghead?" 

Steve's heart is beating a mile per hour, she looks beautiful and he feels so lucky to be able to stand so close to her like this "Oh I just thought that I wanted a dance with my best friend before the new year begins, besides, you looked like you needed to get out of there" Tasha laughs delightedly, they spent so much time together he learned how to read her 

"Lucky me I have my knight in shiny tuxedo to save me" she jokes and Steve smiles. They swing with the music, Steve never danced before, he wanted to have one with Peggy but destiny tore them apart before that much could happen, so, while everyone was extremely busy with the Mandarin's clean up, he had taken the chance to go to ballroom classes... or at least he would have if Nat hadn't stopped him ' _You don't need classes, you need a special course on how to win Tasha Stark_ ' she told him.

"You can save yourself from a 200 feet fall, but you need help to escape a group of investors?" he teases, she subtly sticks her tongue out, prompting a smirk from the soldier

"They are like a vultures Spangles!" she whispers quite amused, she gets closer and Steve can smell her perfume, he blushes a light pink. When the song ends, and before some other suitor can claim a dance with her, he holds her by the hand and guides them to the balcony, is a little chilly so he gives her his coat "Is this another rescue?" Tasha wiggle her eyebrows, he can feel his face hot 

"I... just wanted to give you a present back" he stammers a little and the genius' heart melts by the adorable sight Captain America presents. Steve gets a little box from his pocket and gives it to her, Natasha  opens it and is surprised by a necklace with the initials 'NS', the design is a little rough and Tasha has to look him at the idea that has occurred to her 

"You did this?" Steve shifts his weight uncomfortably, he was kind of expecting that she took more time to figure it out 

"Yeah... both that and the drawing, it's my first time doing jewelry so I hope it's not too bad" he sheepishly admits, Tasha looks back at the box and takes out the neatly folded paper, is a drawing of her working in the armor, with the legend 'To my best friend, genius, billionaire, philanthropist and hero'

"S-Steve... this, this is..."

"Happy New year Tash" he holds her hand gently, feeling as his heart is going to beat its way out of his body, and kisses her knuckles softly "I love you" he whispers. 

Natasha Stark stops working for a full second before throwing her arms to his neck and kisses him on the lips, Steve is surprised but kisses back immediately, a little scared that the moment breaks, until the genius seems to remember who she is with and stops 

"I'm sorry! Steve... I... sorry, I know you don't think of me like that and we are best friends an oh my god, I messed up right? now you're going to hate me, and please don't move out of the tower, I swear we don't even have to talk about this, lets just pretend like it never happened, like last year, and you didn't suppose to know about that, anywayletsjustgosoIcanburymyselfinworkandnotcomeouttillthenextcentuyand-" Steve gently takes her face and presses their lips once again, more confident that his feelings are reciprocated this time and interrupts her rambling that gets to the point of being unintelligible "Wh-what? b-but I thought..."

"When I say to you, that I love you, that's what it means, stupid Shellhead" Steve brightly smiles at Tasha's red face, she looks relieved and happy and doesn't stop herself from clinging to him and kiss him again

"Shut up Winghead" he takes a page of her book and leers 

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me" Tasha smirks and complies, those are Captain's orders after all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... the 'Avengers Endgame' trailer is already out huh? it's so sad already, it would be a shame to...
> 
> "This thing on? ... Hey Spangles, if you find ever this recording, don't feel bad about this, I want you to know that I'm sorry, sorry for being reckless, stupid, irresponsible... I know that you loved me like that nonetheless, but I'm sorry... because this time, thanks to that I won't be able to go home sorry honey. Don't worry, being lost in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds... Food and water ran out four days ago... Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning and that'll be it" she sighs "When I drift off I'll dream about you, because, it's always you... It has always been about you... I trust you will take good care of little Peggy Stark Rogers for me" Tasha's voice cracks a little thinking about her 3 months old baby daughter "I love you Steve... see you in the other side" she cuts the transmission and lays down, a single tear falls down as she waits for the end to come  
> ~  
> "This is going to work Steve" Nat says with determination  
> "I know it is" Cap says, he looks down to his daughter favorite ribbon that somehow survived her turning to dust, and a picture of Tasha the day of their wedding that he has on his compass, she was always beautiful, but that has been the most gorgeous he had ever see her "Cause I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't" 
> 
>  
> 
> oops, my hand slipped. Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year :D


End file.
